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1907

UP FROM SLAVERY

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

AUTHOR OF **THB FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO

NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.

1907

, » I ■ -^r:^ na.— .jcir— ts

ANDOVER THEOL. ^Mim
APR 13 1908

— LIBRARY. -

--" / , 3 ^^

This volume is dedicated to my Wife
MARGARET JAMES WASHINGTON

And to my Brother

JOHN H. WASHINGTON

Whose patience i fidelity ^ and hard work have gone far
to make the work at Tuskegee successful

PREFACE

This volume is the outgrowth of a series of
articles, dealing with incidents in my life, which
were published consecutively in the Outlook. While
they were appearing in that magazine I was con-
stantly surprised at the number of requests which
came to me from all parts of the country, asking
that the articles be permanently preserved in book
form. I am most grateful to the Outlook for per-
mission to gratify these requests.

I have tried to tell a simple, straightforward story,
with no attempt at embellishment. My regret is
that what I have attempted to do has been done so
imperfectly. The greater part of my, time and
strength is required for the executive work con-
nected with the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute, and in securing the money necessary for
the support of the institution. Much of what I
have said has been written on board trains, or at
hotels or railroad stations while I have been waiting

viii PREFACE

for trains^ or during the moments that I could spare
from my work while at Tuskegee. Without the
painstaking and generous assistance of Mr. Max
Bennett Thrasher I could not have succeeded in
any satisfactory degree.

CONTENTS

Introduction by Walter H. Page

Chaptser

I. A Slave among Slaves

II. Boyhood Days

III. The Struggle for an Education

IV. Helping Others .
V. The Reconstruction Period

VL Black Race and Red Race

VII. Early Days at Tuskegee .

VUI. Teaching School in a Stable and a Hen-House

IX. Anxious Days and Sleepless Nights •

X. A Harder Task than making Bricks without Straw

XI. Making their Beds before they could lie on them

Xn. Raising Money • • . . .

XIII. Two Thousand Miles for a Five Minute Speech

XrV. The Atlanta Exposition Address

XV. The Secret of Success in Public Speaking •

XVI. Europe . • • • • •

XVn. Last Words

Pftge

92
106
118
133
148
163
177
196
217
238
267
293

INTRODUCTION

The details of Mr. Washington's early life, as
frankly set down in "Up from Slavery," do not
give quite a whole view of his education. He had
the training that a coloured youth receives at Hamp-
ton, which, indeed, the autobiography does explain.
But the reader does not get his intellectual pedigree,
for Mr. Washington himself, perhaps, does not as
clearly understand it as another man might. The
truth is he had a training during the most impres-
sionable period of his life that was very extraordi-
nary, such a training as few men of his generation
have had. To see its fiill meaning one must start
in the Hawaiian Islands half a century or more
ago.^ There Samuel Armstrong, a youth of mis-
sionary parents, earned enough money to pay his
expenses at an American college. Equipped with
this small sum and the earnestness that the under-
taking implied, he came to Williams College when
Dr. Mark Hopkins was president. Williams Col-

^ For this interesting view of Mr. Washington*8 educadon, I am indebted to
Robert C. Ogden, Esq., Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Hampton Institute
and the intimate friend of General Armstrong during tlie whole period of his educa«
tional work.

xii INTRODUCTION

lege had many good things for youth in that day, as
it has in this, but the greatest was the strong person-
ality of its famous president Every student does
not profit by a great teacher ; but perhaps no young
man ever came under the influence of Dr. Hopkins
whose whole nature was so ripe for profit by such
an experience as young Armstrong. He lived in
the family of President Hopkins, and thus had a
training that was wholly out of the common ; and
this training had much to do with the development
of his own strong character, whose originality and
force we are only beginning to appreciate.

In turn, Samuel Armstrong, the founder of
Hampton Institute, took up his work as a trainer
of youth. He had very raw material, and doubtless
most of his pupils failed to get the greatest lessons
from him ; but, as he had been a peculiarly receptive
pupil of Dr. Hopkins, so Booker Washington be-
came a peculiarly receptive pupil of his. To the
formation of Mr. Washington's character, then, went
the missionary zeal of New England, influenced by
one of the strongest personalities in modern educa-
tion, and the wide-reaching moral earnestness of
General Armstrong himself. These influences are
easily recognizable in Mr. Washington to-day by
men who knew Dn Hopkins and General Arm-
strong.

INTRODUCTION xiii

I got the cue to Mr. Washington's character from
a very simple incident many years ago. I had
never seen him, and I knew little about him, except
that he was the head of a school at Tuskegee, Ala-
bama. I had occasion to write to him, and I
addressed him as " The Rev. Booker T. Washing-
ton.** In his reply there was no mention of my
addressing him as a clergyman. But when I had
occasion to write to him again, and persisted in
making him a preacher, his second letter brought
a postscript : " I have no claim to * Rev.' " I knew
most of the coloured men who at that time had be-
come prominent as leaders of their race, but I had
not then known one who was neither a politician
nor a preacher ; and I had not heard of the head
of an important coloured school who was not a
preacher. ** A new kind of man In the coloured
world,** I said to myself — "a new kind of man
surely if he looks upon his task as an economic one
instead of a theological one.** I wrote him an apol-
ogy for mistaking him for a preacher.

The first time that I went to Tuskegee I was
asked to make an address to the school on Sunday
evening. I sat upon the platform of the large
chapel and looked forth on a thousand coloured faces,
and the choir of a hundred or more behind me sang
a familiar religious melody, and the whole company

xiv INTRODUCTION

joined in the chorus with unction. I was the only
white man under the roof, and the scene and the
songs made an impression on me that I shall never
forget. Mr. Washington arose and asked them to
sing one after another of the old melodies that I
had heard all my life ; but I had never before heard
them sung by a thousand voices nor by the voices
of educated Negroes. I had associated them with
the Negro of the past, not with the Negro who was
struggling upward. They brought to my mind the
plantation, the cabin, the slave, not the freedman in
quest of education. But on the plantation and in
the cabin they had never been sung as these thou-
sand students sang them. I saw again all the old
plantations that I had ever seen ; the whole history
of the Negro ran through my mind ; and the in-
expressible pathos of his life found expression in
these songs as I had never before felt it.

And the future? These were the ambitious
youths of the race, at work with an earnestness that
put to shame the conventional student life of most
educational institutions. Another song rolled up
along the rafters. And as soon as silence came, I
found myself in front of this extraordinary mass of
faces, thinking not of them, but of that long and
unhappy chapter in our country's history which
followed the one great structural mistake of the

INTRODUCTION xv

Fathers of the Republic ; thinking of the one con-
tinuous great problem that generations of statesmen
had wrangled oyer, and a million men fought about,
and that had so dwarfed the mass of English men
in the Southern States as to hold them back a hun-
dred years behind their fellows in every other part
of the world — in England, in Australia, and in the
Northern and Western States; I was thinking of
this dark shadow that had oppressed every large-
minded statesman from Jefferson to Lincoln. These
thousand young men and women about me were
innocent victims of it. I, too, was an innocent
victim of it. The whole Republic was a victim of
that fundamental error of importing Africa into
America. I held firmly to the first article of my
faith that the Republic must stand fast by the
principle of a fair ballot; but I recalled the
wretched mess that Reconstruction had made of it ;
I recalled the low level of public life in all the
"black" States. Every effort of philanthropy
seemed to have miscarried, every effort at correcting
abuses seemed of doubtful value, and the race fric-
tion seemed to become severer. Here was the
century-old problem in all its pathos seated singing
before me. Who were the more to be pitied —
these innocent victims of an ancient wrong, or I
and men like me, who had inherited the problem ?

xvi INTRODUCTION

I had long ago thrown aside illusions and theories,
and was willing to meet the facts face to face, and
to do whatever in God*s name a man might do
towards saving the next generation from such a
burden. But I felt the weight of twenty well-nigh
hopeless years of thought and reading and observa-
tion ; for the old difficulties remained and new ones
had sprung up. Then I saw clearly that the way
out of a century of blunders had been made by this
man who stood beside me and was introducing me
to this audience. Before me was the material he
had used. All about me was the indisputable evi-
dence that he had found the natural line of develop-
ment. He had shown the way. Time and patience
and encouragement and work would do the rest

It was then more clearly than ever before that I
understood the patriotic significance of Mr. Wash-
ington's work. It is this conception of it and of
him that I have ever since carried with me. It is
on this that his claim to our gratitude rests.

To teach the Negro to read, whether English, or
Greek, or Hebrew, butters no parsnips. To make
the Negro work, that is what his master did in one
way and hunger has done in another ; yet both these
left Southern life where they found it. But to teach
the Negro to do skjlful work, as men of all the
races that have risen have worked, — responsible

INTRODUCTION xvii

work, which is education and character ; and most
of all when Negroes so teach Negroes to do this
that they will teach others with a missionary zeal
that puts all ordinary philanthropic efforts to shame,

— this is to change the whole economic basis of life
and the whole character of a people.

The plan itself is not a new one. It was worked
out at Hampton Institute, but it was done at
Hampton by white men. The plan had, in fact,
been many times theoretically laid down by thought-
ful students of Southern life. Handicrafts were
taught in the days of slavery on most well-managed
plantations. But Tuskegee is, nevertheless, a brand-
new chapter in the history of the Negro, and in the
history of the knottiest problem we have ever faced.
It not only makes " a carpenter of a man ; it makes
a man of a carpenter.'* In one sense, therefore, it
is of greater value than any other institution for the
training of men and women that we have, from
Cambridge to Palo Alto. It is almost the only one
of which it may be said that it points the way to a
new epoch in a large area of our national life.

To work out the plan on paper, or at a distance

— that is one thing. For a white man to work it
out — that, too, is an easy thing. For a coloured
man to work it out in the South, where, in its con-
structive period, he was necessarily misunderstood

xviu INTRODUCTION

by his own people as well as by the whites, and
where he had to adjust it at every step to the
strained race relations — that is so very different
and more difficult a thing that the man who did it
put the country under lasting obligations to him.

It was not and is not a mere educational task.
Anybody could teach boys trades and give them an
elementary education. Such tasks have been done
since the beginning of civilization. But this task
had to be done with the rawest of raw material,
done within the civilization of the dominant race,
and so done as not to run across race lines and
social lines that are the strongest forces in the com-
munity. It had to be done for the benefit of the
whole community. It had to be done, moreover,
without local help, in the face of the direst poverty,
done by begging, and done in spite of the ignorance
of one race and the prejudice of the other.

No man living had a harder task, and a task that
called for more wisdom to do it right. The true
measure of Mr. Washington's success is, then, not
his teaching the pupils of Tuskegee, nor even gain-
ing the support of philanthropic persons at a dis-
tance, but this — that every Southern white man of
character and of \yisdom has been won to a cordial
recognition of the value of the work, even men who
held and still hold to the conviction that a mere

INTRODUCTION xix

book education for the Southern blacks under pres-
ent conditions is a positive evil. This is a demon-
stration of the efficiency of the Hampton-Tuskegee
idea that stands like the demonstration of the value
of democratic institutions themselves — a demon-
stration made so clear in spite of the greatest odds
that it is no longer open to argument.

Consider the change that has come in twenty
years in the discussion of the Negro problem.
Two or three decades ago social philosophers and
statisticians and well-meaning philanthropists were
still talking and writing about the deportation of
the Negroes, or about their settlement within some
restricted area, or about their settling in all parts
of the Union, or about their decline through their
neglect of their children, or about their rapid multi-
plication till they should expel the whites from the
South — of every sort of nonsense under heaven.
All this has given place to the simple plan of an
indefinite extension among the neglected classes of
both races of the Hampton-Tuskegee system of
training. The " problem " in one sense has disap-
peared. The future will have for the South swift
or slow development of its masses and of its soil in
proportion to the swift or slow development of this
kind of training. This change of view is a true
measure of Mr. Washington's work.

XX INTRODUCTION

The Kterature of the Negro in America is colos-
sal, from political oratory through abolitionism to
" Uncle Tom's Cabin '* and " Cotton is King " —
a vast mass of books which many men have read to
the waste of good years (and I among them) ; but
the only books that I have read a second time or
ever care again to read in the whole list (most of
them by tiresome and unbalanced " reformers ") are
" Uncle Remus " and " Up from Slavery " ; for
these are the great literature of the subject. One
has all the best of the past, the other foreshadows a
better future ; and the men who wrote them are the
only men who have written of the subject with that
perfect frankness and perfect knowledge and perfect
poise whose other name is genius.

Mr. Washington has won a world-wide fame at
an early age. His story of his own life already has
the distinction of translation into more languages,
I think, than any other American book ; and I sup-
pose that he has as large a personal acquaintance
among men of influence as any private citizen now
living.

His own teaching at Tuskegee is unique. He
lectures to his advanced students on the art of right
living, not out of text-books, but straight out of life.
Then he sends them into the country to visit Negro
families. Such a student will come back with a

INTRODUCTION xxi

minute report of the way in which the family that
he has seen lives, what their earnings are, what they
do well and what they do ill ; and he will explain
how they might live better. He constructs a defi-
nite plan for the betterment of that particular family
out of the resources that they have. Such a student,
if he be bright, will profit more by an experience
like this than he could profit by all the books on
sociology and economics that ever were written. I
talked with a boy at Tuskegee who had made such
a study as this, and I could not keep from contrast-
ing his knowledge and enthusiasm with what I heard
in a class room at a Negro university in one of the
Southern cities, which is conducted on the idea that
a college course will save the soul. Here the class
was reciting a lesson from an abstruse text-book on
economics, reciting it by rote, with so obvious a
failure to assimilate it that the waste of labour was
pitiful.

I asked Mr. Washington years ago what he re-
garded as the most important result of his work,
and he replied:

" I do not know which to put first, the effect of
Tuskegee's work on the Negro, or the effect on the
attitude of the white man to the Negro."

The race divergence under the system of mis-
education was fast getting wider. Under the in-

xxii INTRODUCTION

fluence of the Hampton-Tuskegee idea the races
are coming into a closer sympathy and into an hon-
ourable and helpful relation. As the Negro becomes
economically independent, he becomes a responsible
part of the Southern life ; and the whites so recog-
nize him. And this must be so from the nature of
things. There is nothing artificial about it. It is
development in a perfectly natural way. And the
Southern whites not only so recognize it, but they
are imitating it in the teaching of the neglected
masses of their own race. It has thus come about
that the school is taking a more direct and helpful
hold on life in the South than anywhere else in the
country. Education is not a thing apart from life
— not a "system," nor a philosophy; it is direct
teaching how to live and how to work.

To say that Mr. Washington has won the grati-
tude of all thoughtful Southern white men, is to say
that he has worked with the highest practical wis-
dom at a large constructive task ; for no plan for
the up-building of the freedman could succeed that
ran counter to Southern opinion. To win the sup-
port of Southern opinion and to shape it was a
necessary part of the task; and in this he has so
well succeeded that the South has a sincere and high
regard for him. He once said to me that he re-
called the day, and remembered it thankfully, when

INTRODUCTION xxiii

he grew large enough to regard a Southern white
man as he regarded a Northern one. It is well for
our common country that the day is come when he
and his work are regarded as highly in the South as
in any other part of the Union. I think that no
man of our generation has a more noteworthy
achievement to his credit than this; and it is an
achievement of moral earnestness of the strong
character of a man who has done a great national
service.

Walter H. Page.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Booker T. Washington Frontispiece

PACING PAGE

Samuel Chapman Armstrong 54

An early portrait of Booker T. Washington ... 74

Buildings on ground when purchased for the Tuskegee
Institute, and used as first school buildings. One of

them is still in use no

Cottages formerly used as dormitories for boys, Tuskegee

Institute no

** The Pavilion," Tuskegee Institute, used as an auditorium

before completion of chapel 148

Samuel Chapman Armstrong late in life .... 164

Residence of Mr. Washington at Tuskegee . . . 264

Bird's-eye view of grounds and buildings of Tuskegee

Institute . • 312

UP FROM SLAVERY

CHAPTER I

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES

I WAS born a slave on a plantation in Franklin
County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the
exact place or exact date of my birth, but at
any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere
and at some time. As nearly as I have been able
to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office
called Hale's Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859.
I do not know the month or the day. The earliest
impressions I can now recall are of the plantation
and the slave quarters — the latter being the part of
the plantation where the slaves had their cabins.

My life had its beginning in the midst of the
most miserable, desolate, and discouraging sur-
roundings. This was so, however, not because my
owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as
compared with many others. I was born in a typi-

2 UP FROM SLAVERY

cal log cabin, about fourteen by sixteen feet square.
In this cabin I lived with my mother and a brother
and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all
declared free.

Of my ancestry I know almost nothing. In the
slave quarters, and even later, I heard whispered con-
versations among the coloured people of the tortures
which the slaves, including, no doubt, my ancestors
on my mother's side, suffered in the middle passage
of the slave ship while being conveyed from Africa
to America. I have been unsuccessful in securing
any information that would throw any accurate light
upon the history of my family beyond my mother.
She, I remember, had a half-brother and a half-
sister. In the days of slavery not very much atten-
tion was given to family history and family records
— that is, black family records. My mother, I sup-
pose, attracted the attention of a purchaser who was
afterward my owner and hers. Her addition to the
slave family attracted about as much attention as
the purchase of a new horse or cow. Of my father
I know even less than of my mother. I do not
even know his name. I have heard reports to the
effect that he was a white man who lived on one of
the near-by plantations. Whoever he was, I never
heard of his taking the least interest in me or pro-
viding in any way for my rearing. But I do not

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 3

find especial fault with him. He was simpiy
another unfortunate victim of the institution whick
the Nation unhappily had engrafted upon it at that
time.

The cabin was not only our living-place, but was
also used as the kitchen for the plantation. My
mother was the plantation cook. The cabin was
without glass windows ; it had only openings in the
side which let in the light, and also the cold, chilly
air of winter. There was a door to the cabin —
that is, something that was called a door — but the
uncertain hinges by which it was hung, and the
large cracks in it, to say nothing of the fact that it
was too small, made the room a very uncomfortable
one. In addition to these openings there was, in the
lower right-hand corner of the room, the " cat-hole,"
— a contrivance which almost every mansion or
cabin in Virginia possessed during the ante-bellum
period. The "cat-hole" was a square opening,
about seven by eight inches, provided for the pur-
pose of letting the cat pass in and out of the house
at will during the night. In the case of our par-
ticular cabin I could never understand the necessity
for this convenience, since there were at least a half-
dozen other places in the cabin that would have
accommodated the cats. There was no wooden floor
in our cabin, the naked earth being used as a floor.

4 UP FROM SLAVERY

In the centre of the earthen floor there was a large,
deep opening covered with boards, which was used
as a place in which to store sweet potatoes during
the winter. An impression of this potato-hole is
very distinctly engraved upon my memory, because
I recall that during the process of putting the
potatoes in or taking them out I would often come
into possession of one or two, which I roasted and
thoroughly enjoyed. There was no cooking-stove
on our plantation, and all the cooking for the
whites and slaves my mother had to do over an
open fireplace, mostly in pots and "skillets."
While the poorly built cabin caused us to suflTer
with cold in the winter, the heat from the open fire-
place in summer was equally trying.

The early years of my life, which were spent in
the little cabin, were not very diflTerent from those
of thousands of other slaves. My mother, of
course, had little time in which to give attention to
the training of her children during the day. She
snatched a few moments for our care in the early
morning before her work began, and at night after
the day's work was done. One of my earliest
recollections is that of my mother cooking a chicken
late at night, and awakening her children for the
purpose of feeding them. How or where she got
it I do not know. I presume, however, it was pro-

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 5

cured from our owner's farm. Some people may
call this theft. If such a thing were to happen
now, I should condemn it as theft myself. But
taking place at the time it did, and for the reason
that it did, no one could ever make me believe that
my mother was guilty of thieving. She was simply
a victim of the system of slavery. I cannot re-
member having slept in a bed until after our family
was declared free by the Emancipation Proclama-
tion. Three children — John, my older brother,
Amanda, my sister, and myself — had a pallet on
the dirt floor, or, to be more correct, we slept in
and on a bundle of filthy rags laid upon the dirt
floor.

I was asked not long ago to tell something about
the sports and pastimes that I engaged in during
my youth. Until that question was asked it had
never occurred to me that there was no period of
my life that was devoted to play. From the time
that I can remember anything, almost every day
of my life has been occupied in some kind of
labour ; though I think I would now be a more use-
ful man if I had had time for sports. During the
period that I spent in slavery I was not large
enough to be of much service, still I was occupied
most of the time in cleaning the yards, carrying
water to the men in the fields, or going to the mill,

6 UP FROM SLAVERY

to which I used to take the corn, once a week, to
be ground. The mill was about three miles from
the plantation. This work I always dreaded. The
heavy bag of corn would be thrown across the back
of the horse, and the corn divided about evenly on
each side ; but in some way, almost without excep-
tion, on these trips, the corn would so shift as to
become unbalanced and would fall off the horse,
and often I would fall with it. As I was not
strong enough to reload the corn upon the horse, I
would have to wait, sometimes for many hours, till
a chance passer-by came along who would help me
out of my trouble. The hours while waiting for
some one were usually spent in crying. The time
consumed in this way made me late in reaching the
mill, and by the time I got my corn ground and
reached home it would be far into the night. The
road was a lonely one, and often led through dense
forests. I was always frightened. The woods
were said to be ftiU of soldiers who had deserted
from the army, and I had been told that the first
thing a deserter did to a Negro boy when he found
him alone was to cut off his ears. Besides, when I
was late in getting home I knew I would always
get a severe scolding or a flogging.
' I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave,
though I remember on several occasions I went as

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 7

far as the schoolhouse door with one of my young
mistresses to carry her books. The picture of
several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom en-
gaged in study made a deep impression upon me,
and I had the feeling that to get into a school-
house and study in this way would be about the
same as getting into paradise.

So far as I can now recall, the first knowledge
that I got of the fact that we were slaves, and that
freedom of the slaves was being discussed, was early
one morning before day, when I was awakened by
my mother kneeling over her children and fer-
vently praying that Lincoln and his armies might
be successful, and that one day she and her chil-
dren might be free. In this connection I have
never been able to understand how the slaves
throughout the South, completely ignorant as were
the masses so far as books or newspapers were con-
cerned, were able to keep themselves so accurately
and completely informed about the great National
questions that were agitating the country. From
the time that Garrison, Lovejoy, and others began
to agitate for freedom, the slaves throughout the
South kept in close touch with the progress of the
movement. Though I was a mere child during
the preparation for the Civil War and during the
war itselfj I now recall the many late-at-night

8 UP FROM SLAVERY

whispered discussions that I heard my mother and
the other slaves on the plantation indulge in.
These discussions showed that they understood the
situation, and that they kept themselves informed
of events by what was termed the "grape-vine"
telegraph.

During the campaign when Lincoln was first a
candidate for the Presidency, the slaves on our
far-off plantation, miles from any railroad or large city
or daily newspaper, knew what the issues involved
were. When war was begun between the North
and the South, every slave on our plantation felt
and knew that, though other issues were discussed,
the primal one was that of slavery. Even the most
ignorant members of my race on the remote planta-
tions felt in their hearts, with a certainty that admitted
of no doubt, that the freedom of the slaves would be
the one great result of the war, if the Northern armies
conquered. Every success of the Federal armies and
every defeat of the Confederate forces was watched
with the keenest and most intense interest. Often
the slaves got knowledge of the results of great battles
before the white people received it. This news was
usually gotten from the coloured man who was sent
to the post-office for the mail. In our case the
post-office was about three miles from the planta-
tion, and the mail came once or twice a week. The

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 9

man who was sent to the office would linger about
the place long enough to get the drift of the con-
versation from the group of white people who
naturally congregated there, after receiving their
mail, to discuss the latest news. The mail-carrier
on his way back to our master's house would as
naturally retail the news that he had secured among
the slaves, and in this way they often heard of im-
portant events before the white people at the " big
house," as the master's house was called.

I cannot remember a single instance during my
childhood or early boyhood when our entire family
sat down to the table together, and God's blessing
was asked, and the family ate a meal in a civilized
manner. On the plantation in Virginia, and even
later, meals were gotten by the children very much
as dumb animals get theirs. It was a piece of bread
here and a scrap of meat there. It was a cup of
milk at one time and some potatoes at another.
Sometimes a portion of our family would eat out of
the skillet or pot, while some one else would eat
from a tin plate held on the knees, and often using
nothing but the hands with which to hold the food.
When I had grown to sufficient size, I was required
to go to the " big house " at meal-times to fan the
flies from the table by means of a large set of paper
fans operated by a pulley. Naturally much of the

lo UP FROM SLAVERY

conversation of the white people turned upon the
subject of freedom and the war, and I absorbed a
good deal of it. I remember that at one time I saw
two of my young mistresses and some lady visitors
eating ginger-cakes, in the yard. At that time those
cakes seemed to me to be absolutely the most tempt-
ing and desirable things that I had ever seen ; and I
then and there resolved that, if I ever got free, the
height of my ambition would be reached if I could
get to the point where I could secure and eat
ginger-cakes in the way that I saw those ladies
doing.

Of course as the war was prolonged the white
people, in many cases, often found it difficult to
secure food for themselves. I think the slaves felt
the deprivation less than the whites, because the
usuai diet for the slaves was corn bread and pork,
and these could be raised on the plantation ; but
coffee, tea, sugar, and other articles which the
whites had been accustomed to use could not be
raised on the plantation, and the conditions brought
about by the war frequently made it impossible to
secure these things. The whites were often in great
straits. Parched corn was used for coffee, and a
kind of black molasses was used instead of sugar.
Many times nothing was used to sweeten the so-
called tea and cof¥ee.

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES ii

The first pair of shoes that I recall wearing were
wooden ones. They had rough leather on the top,
but the bottoms, which were about an inch thick,
were of wood. When I walked they made a fearful
noise, and besides this they were very inconvenient,
since there was no yielding to the natural pressure
of the foot. In wearing them one presented an
exceedingly awkward appearance. The most trying
ordeal that I was forced to endure as a slave boy,
however, was the wearing of a flax shirt. In the
portion of Virginia where I lived it was common
to use flax as part of the clothing for the slaves.
That part of the flax from which our clothing was
made was largely the refuse, which of course was
the cheapest and roughest part. I can scarcely
Imagine any torture, except, perhaps, the pulling of
a tooth, that is equal to that caused by putting on
a new flax shirt for the first time. It is almost
equal to the feeling that one would experience if
he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred
small pin-points, in contact with his flesh. Even
to this day I can recall accurately the tortures that I
underwent when putting on one of these garments.
The fact that my flesh was soft and tender added to
the pain. But I had no choice. I had to wear the
flax shirt or none; and had it been left to me to
choo8e^ I should have chosen to wear no covering.

12 UP FROM SLAVERY

In connection with the flax shirt, my brother John,
who is several years older than I am, performed one
of the most generous acts that I ever heard of one
slave relative doing for another. On several occa-
sions when I was being forced to wear a new flax shirt,
he generously agreed to put it on in my stead and
wear it for several days, till it was "broken in."
Until I had grown to be quite a youth this single
garment was all that I wore.

One may get the idea, from what I have said, that
there was bitter feeling toward the white people on the
part of my race, because of the fact that most of the
white population was away fighting in a war which
would result in keeping the Negro in slavery if the
South was successful. In the case of the slaves on
our place this was not true, and it was not true of
any large portion of the slave population in the
South where the Negro was treated with anything
like decency. During the Civil War one of my
young masters was killed, and two were severely
wounded. I recall the feeling of sorrow which
existed among the slaves when they heard of the
death of " Mars* Billy." It was no sham sorrow,
but real. Some of the slaves had nursed " Mars'
Billy " ; others had played with him when he was a
child. " Mars* Billy " had begged for mercy in
the case of others when the overseer or master was

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 13

thrashing them. The sorrow in the slave quarter
was only second to that in the " big house." When
the two young masters were brought home wounded,
the sympathy of the slaves was shown in many
ways. They were just as anxious to assist in the
nursing as the family relatives of the wounded.
Some of the slaves would even beg for the privilege
of sitting up at night to nurse their wounded masters.
This tenderness and sympathy on the part of those
held in bondage was a result of their kindly and
generous nature. In order to defend and protect
the women and children who were left on the plan-
tations when the white males went to war, the slaves
would have laid down their lives. The slave who
was selected to sleep in the " big house " during the
absence of the males was considered to have the place
of honour. Any one attempting to harm " young
Mistress " or " old Mistress " during the night
would have had to cross the dead body of the slave
to do so. I do not know how many have noticed it,
but I think that it will be found to be true that there
are few instances, either in slavery or freedom, in
which a member of my race has been known to
betray a specific trust.

As a rule, not only did the members of my race
entertain no feelings of bitterness against the whites
before and during the war, but there are many

14 UP FROM SLAVERY

instances of Negroes tenderly caring for their
former masters and mistresses who for some reason
have become poor and dependent since the war. I
know of instances where the former masters of
slaves have for years been supplied with money by
their former slaves to keep them from suffering. I
have known of still other cases in which the former
slaves have assisted in the education of the descend-
ants of their former owners. I know of a case on
a large plantation in the South in which a young
white man, the son of the former owner of the estate,
has become so reduced in purse and self-control by
reason of drink that he is a pitiable creature ; and
yet, notwithstanding the poverty of the coloured
people themselves on this plantation, they have for
years supplied this young white man with Ihe
necessities of life. One sends him a little coffee
or sugar, another a little meat, and so on. Nothing
that the coloured people possess is too good for the
son of " old Mars' Tom," who will perhaps never
be permitted to suffer while any remain on the
place who knew directly or indirectly of "old
Mars' Tom."

I have said that there are few instances of a
member of my race betraying a specific trust.
One of the best illustrations of this which I
know of is in the case of an ex-slave from Virginia

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 15

whom I met not long ago in a little town in the
state of Ohio. I found that this man had made a
contract with his master, two or three years previ-
ous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect
that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself,
by paying so much per year for his body; and while
he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted
to labour where and for whom he pleased. Finding
that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went
there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to
his master some three hundred dollars. Notwith-
standing that the Emancipation Proclamation freed
him from any obligation to his master, this black
man walked the greater portion of the distance back
to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed
the last dollar, with interest, in his hands. In talk-
ing to me about this, the man told me that he
knew that he did not have to pay the debt, but
that he had given his word to his master, and his
word he had never broken. He felt that he could
not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his
promise.

From some things that I have said one may get
the idea that some of the slaves did not want free-
dom. This is not true. I have never seen one
who did not want to be free, or one who would
return to slavery.

i6 UP FROM SLAVERY

I pity from the bottom of my heart any nation
or body of people that is so unfortunate as to get
entangled in the net of slavery. I have long since
ceased to cherish any spirit of bitterness against the
Southern white people on account of the enslavement
of my race. No one section of our country was
wholly responsible for its introduction, and, besides,
it was recognized and protected for years by the
General Government. Having once got its tenta-
cles fastened on to the economic and social life of
the Republic, it was no easy matter for the country
to relieve itself of the institution. Then, when we
rid ourselves of prejudice, or racial feeling, and look
facts in the face, we must acknowledge that, not-
withstanding the cruelty and moral wrong of slavery,
the ten million Negroes inhabiting this country, who
themselves or whose ancestors went through the
school of American slavery, are in a stronger and
more hopeful condition, materially, intellectually,
morally, and religiously, than is true of an equal
number of black people in any other portion of the
globe. This is so to such an extent that Negroes
in this country, who themselves or whose forefathers
went through the school of slavery, are constantly
returning to Africa as missionaries to enlighten
those who remained in the fatherland. This I say,
not to justify slavery — on the other hand, I con-

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 17

demn it as an institution, as we all know that in
America it was established for selfish and financial
reasons, and not from a missionary motive — but to
call attention to a fact, and to show how Providence
so often uses men and institutions to accomplish a
purpose. When persons ask me in these days how,
in the midst of what sometimes seem hopelessly
discouraging conditions, I can have such faith in
the future of my race in this country, I remind
them of the wilderness through which and out of
which, a good Providence has already led us.

Ever since I have been old enough to think for
myself, I have entertained the idea that, notwith-
standing the cruel wrongs inflicted upon us, the
black man got nearly as much out of slavery as
the white man did. The hurtful influences of the
institution were not by any means confined to the
Negro. This was fully illustrated by the life upon
our own plantation. The whole machinery of
slavery was so constructed as to cause labour, as a
rule, to be looked upon as a badge of degradation,
of inferiority. Hence labour was something that
both races on the slave plantation sought to escape.
The slave system on our place, in a large measure,
took the spirit of self-reliance and self-help out of
the white people. My old master had many boys
and girls, but not one, so far as I know, ever mas-

1 8 UP FROM SLAVERY

tered a single trade or special line of productive
industry. The girls were not taught to cook, sew,
or to take care of the house. All of this was left
to the slaves. The slaves, of course, had little per-
sonal interest in the life of the plantation, and their
ignorance prevented them from learning how to do
things in the most improved and thorough manner.
As a result of the system, fences were out of repair,
gates were hanging half off the hinges, doors
creaked, window-panes were out, plastering had
fallen but was not replaced, weeds grew in the
yard. As a rule, there was food for whites and
blacks, but inside the house, and on the dining-
room table, there was wanting that delicacy and
refinement of touch and finish which can make a
home the most convenient, comfortable, and attrac-
tive place in the world. Withal there was a waste
of food and other materials which was sad. When
freedom came, the slaves were almost as well fitted
to begin life anew as the master, except in the
matter of book-learning and ownership of property.
The slave owner and his son* had mastered no
special industry. They unconsciously had imbibed
the feeling that manual labour was not the proper
thing for them. On the other hand, the slaves,
in many cases, had mastered some handicraft, and
none were ashamed, and few unwilling, to labour.

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 19

Finally the war closed, and the day of freedom
came. It was a momentous and eventful day to
all upon our plantation. We had been expecting
it. Freedom was in the air, and had been for
months. Deserting soldiers returning to their
homes were to be seen every day. Others who
had been discharged, or whose regiments had been
paroled, were constantly passing near our place.
The "grape-vine telegraph" was kept busy night
and day. The news and mutterings of great events
were swiftly carried from one plantation to another.
In the fear of " Yankee " invasions, the silverware
and other valuables were taken from the "big
house," buried in the woods, and guarded by
trusted slaves. Woe be to any one who would
have attempted to disturb the buried treasure.
The slaves would give the Yankee soldiers food,
drink, clothing « — anything but that which had been
specifically intrusted to their care and honour. As
the great day drew nearer, there was more singing
in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder,
had more ring, and lasted later into the night.
Most of the verses of the plantation songs had
some reference to freedom. True, they had sung
those same verses before, but they had been careful
to explain that the " freedom " in these songs
referred to the next world, and had no connection

20 UP FROM SLAVERY

with life in this world. Now they gradually threw
ofF the mask, and were not afraid to let it be known
that the "freedom" in their songs meant freedom
of the body in this world. The night before the
eventful day, word was sent to the slave quarters
to the effect that something unusual was going to
take place at the "big house" the next morning.
There was little, if any, sleep that night. All was
excitement and expectancy. Early the next morn-
ing word was sent to all the slaves, old and young,
to gather at the house. In company with my
mother, brother, and sister, and a large number of
other slaves, I went to the master's house. All
of our master's family were either standing or
seated on the veranda of the house, where they
could see what was to take place and hear what
was said. There was a feeling of deep interest, or
perhaps sadness, on their faces, but not bitterness.
As I now recall the impression they made upon me,
they did not at the moment seem to be sad because
of the loss of property, but rather because of part-
ing with those whom they had reared and who were
in many ways very close to them. The most dis-
tinct thing that I now recall in connection with the
scene was that some man who seemed to be a
stranger (a United* States officer, I presume) made
a little speech and then read a rather long paper —

A SLAVE AMONG SLAVES 21

the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After
the reading we were told that we were all free, and
could go when and where we pleased. My mother,
who was standing by my side, leaned over and
kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down
her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant,
that this was the day for which she had been so
long praying, but fearing that she would never
live to see.

For some minutes there was great rejoicing, and -
thanksgiving, and wild scenes of ecstasy. But there
was no feeling of bitterness. In fact, there was pity
among the slaves for our former owners. The wild
rejoicing on the part of the emancipated coloured
people lasted but for a brief period, for I noticed
that by the time they returned to their cabins there
was a change in their feelings. The great respon-
sibility of being free, of having charge of them-
selves, of having to think and plan for themselves
and their children, seemed to take possession of
them. It was very much like suddenly turning a
youth of ten or twelve years out into the world to
provide for himself. In a few hours the great
questions with which the Anglo-Saxon race had
been grappling for centuries had been thrown upon
these people to be solved. These were the ques-
tions of a home, a living, the rearing of children,

22 UP FROM SLAVERY

education, citizenship, and the establishment and
support of churches. Was it any wonder that
within a few hours the wild rejoicing ceased and a
feeling of deep gloom seemed to pervade the slave
quarters ? To some it seemed that, now that they
were in actual possession of it, freedom was a more
serious thing than they had expected to find it.
Some of the slaves were seventy or eighty years
old ; their best days were gone. They had no
strength with which to earn a living in a strange
place and among strange people, even if they had
been sure where to find a new place of abode. To
this class the problem seemed especially hard. Be-
sides, deep down in their hearts there was a strange
and peculiar attachment to "old Marster" and
"old Missus," and to their children, which they
found it hard to think of breaking oflF. With these
they had spent in some cases nearly a half-century,
and it was no light thing to think of parting.
Gradually, one by one, stealthily at first, the older
slaves began to wander from the slave quarters back
to the " big house " to have a whispered conversa-
tion with their former owners as to the future.

CHAPTER II

BOYHOOD DAYS

AFTER the coming of freedom there were
two points upon which practically all the
people on our place were agreed, and I find
that this was generally true throughout the South :
that they must change their names, and that they
must leave the old plantation for at least a few days
or weeks in order that they might really feel sure
that they were free.

In some way a feeling got among the coloured
people that it was far from proper for them to bear
the surname of their former owners, and a great
many of them took other surnames. This was one
of the first signs of freedom. When they were
slaves, a coloured person was simply called " John "
or ** Susan." There was seldom occasion for more
than the use of the one name. If " John " or
"Susan" belonged to a white man by the name
of "Hatcher," sometimes he was called "John
•Hatcher," or as often " Hatcher's John." But there
was a feeling that " John Hatcher " or " Hatcher's

24 UP FROM SLAVERY

John " was not the proper title by which to denote
a freeman ; and so in many cases " John Hatcher "
was changed to " John S. Lincoln " or " John S.
Sherman," the initial " S " standing for no name, it
being simply a part of what the coloured man
proudly called his "entitles."

As I have stated, most of the coloured people left
the old plantation for a short while at least, so as to
be sure, it seemed, that they could leave and try
their freedom on to see how it felt. After they
had remained away for a time, many of the older
slaves, especially, returned to their old homes and
made some kind of contract with their former
owners by which they remained on the estate,
jp My mother's husband, who was the stepfather of
my brother John and myself, did not belong to the
same owners as did my mother. In fact, he sel-
dom came to our plantation. I remember seeing
him there perhaps once a year, that being about
Christmas time. In some way, during the war, by
running away and following the Federal soldiers,
it seems, he found his way into the new state of
West Virginia. As soon as freedom was declared,
he sent for my mother to come to the Kanawha
Valley, in West Virginia. At that time a journey
from Virginia over the mountains to West Virginia
was rather a tedious and in some cases a painful

BOYHOOD DAYS 25

undertaking. What little clothing and few house-
hold goods we had were placed in a cart, but the
children walked the greater portion of the distance,
which was several hundred miles.

I do not think any of us ever had been very far
from the plantation, and the taking of a long jour-
ney into another state was quite an event. The
parting from our former owners and the members
of our own race on the plantation was a serious
occasion. From the time of our parting till their
death we kept up a correspondence with the older
members of the family, and in later years we have
kept in touch with those who were the younger
members. We were several weeks making the trip,
and most of the time we slept in the open air and
did our cooking over a log fire out-of-doors. One
night I recall that we camped near an abandoned
log cabin, and my mother decided to build a fire in
that for cooking, and afterward to make a " pallet "
on the floor for our sleeping. Just as the fire had
gotten well started a large black snake fully a yard
and a half long dropped down the chimney and ran
out on the floor. Of course we at once abandoned
that cabin. Finally we reached our destination — a
little town called Maiden, which is about five miles
from Charleston, the present capital of the state.

At that time salt-mining was the great industry in

26 UP FROM SLAVERY

that part of West Virginia, and the little town of
Maiden was right in the midst of the salt-furnaces.
My stepfather had already secured a job at a salt-
furnace, and he had also secured a little cabin for us to
live in. Our new house was no better than the one
we had left on the old plantation in Virginia. In
fact, in one respect it was worse. Notwithstanding
the poor condition of our plantation cabin, we were at
all times sure of pure air. Our new home was in the
midst of a cluster of cabins crowded closely together,
and as there were no sanitary regulations, the filth
about the cabins was often intolerable. Some of our
neighbours were coloured people, and some were the
poorest and most ignorant and degraded white peo-
ple It was a motley mixture. Drinking, gambling,
quarrels, fights, and shockingly immoral practices
were frequent. All who lived in the little town were
in one way or another connected with the salt busi-
ness. Though I was a mere child, my stepfather
put me and my brother at work in one of the fur-
naces. Often I began work as early as four o'clock
in the morning.

* The first thing I ever learned in the way of book
knowledge was while working in this salt-furnace.
Each salt-packer had his barrels marked with a cer-
tain number. The number allotted to my step-
father was " 1 8," At the close of the day's work

BOYHOOD DAYS 27

the boss of the packers would come around and put
" 18 " on each of our barrels, and I soon learned to
recognize that figure wherever I saw it, and after a
while got to the point where I could make that fig-
ure, though I knew nothing about any other figures
or letters.

From the time that I can remember having any
thoughts about anything, I recall that I had an in-
tense longing to learn to read. I determined, when
quite a small child, that, if I accomplished nothing
else in life, I would in some way get enough educa-
tion to enable me to read common books and news-
papers. Soon after we got settled in some manner
in our new cabin in West Virginia, I induced my
mother to get hold of a book for me. How or
where she got it I do not know, but in some way
she procured an old copy of Webster's " blue-back '*
spelling-book, which contained the alphabet, followed
by such meaningless words as "ab," "ba," "ca,**
" da." I began at once to devour this book, and I
think that it was the first one I ever had in my
hands. I had learned from somebody that the way
to begin to read was to learn the alphabet, so I tried
in all the ways I could think of to learn it, — all of
course without a teacher, for I could find no one to
teach me. At that time there was not a single mem-
ber of my race anywhere near us who could read,

28 UP FROM SLAVERY

and I was too timid to approach any of the white
people. In some way, within a few weeks, I mas-
tered the greater portion of the alphabet. In all
my efforts to learn to read my mother shared fully
my ambition, and sympathized with me and aided
me in every way that she could. Though she was
totally ignorant, so far as mere book knowledge was
concerned, she had high ambitions for her children,
and a large fund of good, hard, common sense
which seemed to enable her to meet and master
every situation. If I have done anything in life
worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the dis-
position from my mother.

In the midst of my struggles and longing for an
education, a young coloured boy who had learned
to read in the state of Ohio came to Maiden. As
soon as the coloured people found out that he could
read, a newspaper was secured, and at the close of
nearly every day's work this young man would be
surrounded by a group of men and women who
were anxious to hear him read the news contained in
the papers. How I used to envy this man ! He
seemed to me to be the one young man in all the world
who ought to be satisfied with his attainments.

About this time the question of having some kind
of a school opened for the coloured children in the
village began to be discussed by members of the

BOYHOOD DAYS 29

race. As it would be the first school for Negro
children that had ever been opened in that part of
Virginia, it was, of course, to be a great event, and
the discussion excited the widest interest. The most
perplexing question was where to find a teacher.
The young man from Ohio who had learned to read
the papers was considered, but his age was against
him. In the midst of the discussion about a teacher,
another young coloured man from Ohio, who- had
been a soldier, in some way found his way into town.
It was soon learned that he possessed considerable
education, and he was engaged by the coloured peo
pie to teach their first school. As yet no free schools
had been started for coloured people in that section,
hence each family agreed to pay a certain amount
per month, with the understanding that the teacher
was to " board *round " — that is, spend a day with
each family. This was not bad for the teacher, for
each family tried to provide the very best on the day
the teacher was to be its guest. I recall that I looked
forward with an anxious appetite to the " teacher's
day ** at our little cabin.

This experience of a whole race beginning to go
to school for the first time, presents one of the most
interesting studies that has ever occurred in connec-
tion with the development of any race. Few peo-
ple who were not right in the midst of the scenes

30 UP FROM SLAVERY

can form any exact idea of the intense desire which
the people of my race showed for an education. As
I have stated, it was a whole race trying to go to
school. Few were too young, and none too old, to
make the attempt to learn. As fast as any kind of
teachers could be secured, not only were day-schools
filled, but night-schools as well. The great ambi-
tion of the older people was to try to learn to read
the Bible before they died. With this end in view,
men and women who were fifty or seventy-five years
old would often be found in the night-school. Sun-
day-schools were formed soon after freedom, but the
principal book studied in the Sunday-school was the
spelling-book. Day-school, night-school, Sunday-
school, were always crowded, and often many had to
be turned away for want of room.

The opening of the school in the Kanawha Val-
ley, however, brought to me one of the keenest dis-
appointments that I ever experienced. I had been
working in a salt-furnace for several months, and my
stepfather had discovered that I had a financial value,
and so, when the school opened, he decided that he
could not spare me from my work. This decision
seemed to cloud my every ambition. The disap-
pointment was made all the more severe by reason
of the fact that my place of work was where I could
pee the happy children passing to and from school,

BOYHOOD DAYS 31

mornings and afternoons. Despite this disappoint-
ment, however, I determined that I would learn
something, anyway. I applied myself with greater
earnestness than ever to the mastering of what was
in the " blue-back ** speller.

My mother sympathized with me in my disap-
pointment, and sought to comfort me in all the ways
she could, and to help me find a way to learn.
After a while I succeeded in making arrangements
with the teacher to give me some lessons at night,
after the day's work was done. These night lessons
were so welcome that I think I learned more at night
than the other children did during the day. My
own experiences in the night-school gave me faith in
the night-school idea, with which, in after years, I
had to do both at Hampton and Tuskegee. But
my boyish heart was still set upon going to the day-
school, and I let no opportunity slip to push my
case. Finally I won, and was permitted to go to
the school in the day for a few months, with the un-
derstanding that I was to rise early in the morning
and work in the furnace till nine o'clock, and return
immediately after school closed in the afternoon for
at least two more hours of work.

The schoolhouse was some distance from the
furnace, and as I had to work till nine o'clock, and
the school opened at nine, I found myself in a diffi-

32 UP FROM SLAVERY

culty. School would always be begun before I
reached it, and sometimes my c*ass had recited. To
get around this difficulty I yielded to a temptation
for which most people, I suppose, will condemn me ;
but since it is a fact, I might as well state it. I have
great faith in the power and influence of facts. It is
seldom that anything is permanently gained by hold-
ing back a fact. There was a large clock in a little
office in the furnace. This clock, of course, all the
hundred or more workmen depended upon to regu-
late their hours of beginning and ending the day's
work. I got the idea that the way for me to reach
school on time was to move the clock hands from
half-past eight up to the nine o'clock mark. This
* I found myself doing morning after morning, till
the furnace " boss " discovered that something was
wrong, and locked the clock in a case. • I did not
mean to inconvenience anybody. I simply meant
to reach that schoolhouse in time.

When, however, I found myself at the school
for the first time, I also found myself confronted
with two other difficulties. In the first place, I
found that all of the other children wore hats or
caps on their heads, and I had neither hat nor cap.
In fact, I do not remember that up to the time of
going to school I had ever worn any kind of cover-
ing upon my head, nor dp I recall that either I

BOYHOOD DAYS 33

or anybody else had even thought anything about
the need of covering for my head. But, cf course,
when I saw how all the other boys were dressed, I
began to feel quite uncomfortable. As usual, I
put the case before my mother, and she explained
to me that she had no money with which to buy a
" store hat," which was a rather new institution at
that time among the members of my race and was
considered quite the thing for young and old to
own, but that she would find a way to help me out
of the difficulty. She accordingly got two pieces
of " homespun " (jeans) and sewed them together,
and I was soon the proud possessor of my first
cap.

The lesson that my mother taught me in this has
always remained with me, and I have tried as best
I could to teach it to others. I have always felt
proud, whenever I think of the incident, that my
mother had strength of character enough not to be
led into the temptation of seeming to be that which
she was not — of trying to impress my schoolmates
and others with the fact that she was able to buy
me a " store hat " when she was not. I have always
felt proud that she refused to go into debt for that
which she did not have the money to pay for.
Since that time I have owned many kinds of caps
and hats, but never one of which I have felt so

34 UP FROM SLAVERY

proud as of the cap made of the two pieces of CiOth
sewed together by my mother. I have noted the
fact, but without satisfaction, I need not add, that
several of the boys who began their careers with
"store hats"*and who were my schoolmates and
used to join in the sport that was made of me
because I had only a " homespun ** cap, have ended
their careers in the penitentiary, while others are
not able now to buy any kind of hat.

My second difficulty was with regard to my
name, or rather a name. From the time when I
could remember anything, I had been called simply
" Booker.'* Before going to school it had never
occurred to me that it was needful or appropriate
to have an additional name. When I heard the
school-roll called, I noticed that all of the children
had at least two names, and some of them indulged
in what seemed to me the extravagance of having
three. I was in deep perplexity, because I knew
that the teacher would demand of me at least two
names, and I had only one. By the time the occa-
sion came for the enrolling of my name, an idea
occurred to me which I thought would make me
equal to the situation ; and so, when the teacher
asked me what my full name was, I calmly told
him " Booker Washington," as if I had been called
by that name all my life ; and by that name I have

BOYHOOD DAYS 35

since been known. Later in my life I found that
my mother had given me the name of "Booker
Taliaferro " soon after I was born, but in some way
that part of my name seemed to disappear and for
a long while was forgotten, but as soon as I found
out about it I revived it, and made my full name
** Booker Taliaferro Washington." I think there
are not many men in our country who have had the
privilege of naming themselves in the way that I
have.

More than once I have tried to picture myself in
the position of a boy or man with an honoured and
distinguished ancestry which I could trace back
through a period of hundreds of years, and who
had not only inherited a name, but fortune and a
proud family homestead ; and yet I have sometimes
had the feeling that if I had inherited these, and
had been a member of a more popular race, I
should have been inclined to yield to the tempta-
tion of depending upon my ancestry and my colour
to do that for me which I should do for myself.
Years ago I resolved that because I had no ancestry
myself I would leave a record of which my children
would be proud, and which might encourage them
to still higher effort.

The world should not pass judgment upon the
Negro, and especially the Negro youth, too quickly

36 UP FROM SLAVERY

or too harshly* The Negro boy has obstacles, dis-
couragements, and temptations to battle with that
are little known to those not situated as he is.
When a white boy undertakes a task, it is taken for
granted that he will succeed. On the other hand,
people are usually surprised if the Negro boy does
not fail. In a word, the Negro youth starts out
with the presumption against him.

The influence of ancestry, however, is important
in helping forward any individual or race, if too
much reliance is not placed upon it. Those who
constantly direct attention to the Negro youth's
moral weaknesses, and compare his advancement
with that of white youths, do not consider the
influence of the memories which cling about the
old family homesteads. I have no idea, as I have
stated elsewhere, who my grandmother was. I
have, or have had, uncles and aunts and cousins,
but I have no knowledge as to where most of them
are. My case will illustrate that of hundreds of
thousands of black people in every part of our
country. The very fact that the white boy is con-
scious that, if he fails in life, he will disgrace the
whole family record, extending back through many
generations, is of tremendous value in helping him
to resist temptations. The fact that the individual
has behind and surrounding him proud family his-

BOYHOOD DAYS 37

tory and connection serves as a stimulus to help
him to overcome obstacles when striving for suc-
cess.

The time that I was permitted to attend school
during the day was short, and my attendance was
irregular. It was not long before I had to stop
attending day-school altogether, and devote all of
my time again to work. I resorted to the night-
school again. In fact, the greater part of the
education I secured in my boyhood was gathered
through the night-school after my day's work was
done. I had difficulty often in securing a satis-
factory teacher. Sometimes, after I had secured
some one to teach me at night, I would find, much
to my disappointment, that the teacher knew but
little more than I did. Often I would have to
walk several miles at night in order to recite my
night-school lessons. There was never a time in
my youth, no matter how dark and discouraging
the days might be, when one resolve did not con-
tinually remain with me, and that was a determina-
tion to secure an education at any cost.

Soon after we moved to West Virginia, my
mother adopted into our family, notwithstanding
our poverty, an orphan boy, to whom afterward we
gave the name of James B. Washington. He has
ever since remained a member of the family.

jS UP FROM SLAVERY

After I had worked in the salt-fiirnace for some
time, work was secured for me in a coal-mine which
was operated mainly for the purpose of securing
fiiel for the salt-furnace. Work in the cpal-mine I
always dreaded. One reason for this was that any
one who worked in a coal-mine was always unclean,
at least while at work, and it was a very hard job to
get one's skin clean after the day's work was over.
Then it was fully a mile from the opening of the
coal-mine to the face of the coal, and all, of course,
was in the blackest darkness. I do not believe that
one ever experiences anywhere else such darkness
as he does in a coal-mine. The mine was divided
into a large number of different "rooms" or de-
partments, and, as I never was able to learn the
location of all these " rooms,*' I many times found
myself lost in the mine. To add to the horror of
being lost, sometimes my light would go out, and
then, if I did not happen to have a match, I would
wander about m the darkness until by chance I
found some one to give me a light. The work
was not only hard, but it was dangerous. There
was always the danger of being blown to pieces by a
^premature explosion of powder, or of being crushed
by falling slate. Accidents from one or the other
of these causes were frequently occurring, and this
kept me in constant fear. Many children of the

BOYHOOD DAYS 39

tenderest yeara were compelled then, as is now true
I fear, in most coal-rmining districts, to spend a
large part of their lives in these coal-rmines, with
little opportunity to get an education ; and, what is
worse, I have often noted that, as a rule, young
boys who begin life in a coal-mine are often physi:-
cally and mentally dwarfed. They soon lose ^mbi^
tion to do anything else than to continue as a
coal-miner.

In those days, and later as a young man, I used
to try to picture in my imagination the feelings and
ambitions of a white boy with absolutely no limit
placed upon his aspirations and activities. I used
to envy the white boy who had no obstacles placed
in the way of his becoming a Congressman, Gov-
ernor, Bishop, or President by reason of the accident
of his birth or race. I used to picture th^ way that
I would act under such circumstances ; how I would
begin at the bottom and keep rising until I reached
the highest round of success.

In later year^, I confess that I do not envy the
white boy as I once did. I have learned that suc-
cess is to be measured not so much by the position
that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which
he has overcome while trying to succeed* Looked
at from this standpoint, I almost reach the conclu^
sion that often the Negro bo/s birth and connection

40 UP FROM SLAVERY

with an unpopular race is an advantage, so far as
real life is concerned. With few exceptions, the
Negro youth must work harder and must perform
his tasks even better than a white youth in order to
secure recognition. But out of the hard and un-
usual struggle through which he is compelled to
pass, he gets a strength, a confidence, that one
misses whose pathway is comparatively smooth by
reason of birth and race.

From any point of view, I had rather be what I
am, a member of the Negro race, than be able to
claim membership with the most favoured of any
other race. I have always been made sad when I
have heard members of any race claiming rights and
privileges, or certain badges of distinction, on the
ground simply that they were members of this or
that race, regardless of their own individual worth
or attainments. I have been made to feel sad for
such persons because I am conscious of the fact
that mere connection with what is known as a
superior race will not permanently carry an indi-
vidual forward unless he has individual worth, and
mere connection with what is regarded as an inferior
race will not finally hold an individual back if he
possesses intrinsic, individual merit. Every perse-
cuted individual and race should get much consola-
tion out of the great human law, which is universal

BOYHOOD DAYS 41

and eternal, that merit, no matter under what skin
found, is, in the long run, recognized and rewarded.
This I have said here, not to call attention to my-
self as an individual, but to the race to which I am
proud to belong.

CHAPTER 111

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION

ONE day, while at work In the coal-mine, I
happened to overhear two miners talking
about a great school for coloured people
somewhere in Virginia. This was the first time
that I had ever heard anything about any kind of
school or college that was more pretentious than
the little coloured school in our town.

In the darkness of the mine I noiselessly crept
as close as I could to the two men who were talking.
I heard one tell the other that not only was the
school established for the members of my race, but
that opportunities were provided by which poor but
worthy students could work out all or a part of the
cost of board, and at the same time be taught some
trade or industry.

As they went on describing the school, it seemed
to me that it must be the greatest place on earth,
and not even Heaven presented more attractions for
me at that time than did the Hampton Normal and
Agricultural Institute in Virginia, about which these

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 43

men were talking. I resolved at once to go to that
school, although I had no idea where it was, or how
many miles away, or how I was going to reach it ; I
remembered only that I was on fire constantly with
one ambition, and that was to go to Hampton.
This thought was with me day and night.

After hearing of the Hampton Institute, I con-
tinued to work for a few months longer in the coal-
mine. While at work there, I heard of a vacant
position in the household of General Lewis RufFner,
the owner of the salt-furnace and coal-mine. Mrs.
Viola RufFner, the wife of General RufFner, was a
"Yankee" woman from Vermont. Mrs. RufFner
had a reputation all through the vicinity for being
very strict with her servants, and especially with the
boys who tried to serve her. Few of them had
remained with her more than two or three weeks.
They all left with the same excuse : she was too
strict. I decided, however, that I would rather try
Mrs. RufFner's house than remain in the coal-mine,
and so my mother applied to her for the vacant
position. I was hired at a salary of ^5 per month.

I had heard so much about Mrs. RufFner^s
severity that I was almost afraid to see her, and
trembled when I went into her presence. I had
not lived with her many weeks, however, before I
began to understand her. I soon began to learn

44 UP FROM SLAVERY

that, first of all, she wanted everything kept clean
about her, that she wanted things done promptly
and systematically, and that at the bottom of every-
thing she wanted absolute honesty and frankness.
Nothing must be sloven or slipshod ; every door,
every fence, must be kept in repair.

I cannot now recall how long I lived with Mrs.
RufFner before going to Hampton, but I think it
must have been a year and a half. At any rate, I
here repeat what I have said more than once before,
that the lessons that I learned in the home of Mrs.
RufFner were as valuable to me as any education I
have ever gotten anywhere since. Even to this day
I never see bits of paper scattered around a house
or in the street that I do not want to pick them up
at once. I never see a filthy yard that I do not
want to clean it, a paling oflF of a fence that I do not
want to put it on, an unpainted or unwhitewashed
house that I do not want to paint or whitewash it,
or a button oflF one's clothes, or a grease-spot on
them or on a floor, that I do not want to call
attention to it.

From fearing Mrs. RuflFner I soon learned to
look upon her as one of my best friends. When
she found that slie could trust me she did so im-
plicitly. During the one or two winters that I was
with her she gave me an opportunity to go to

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 45

school for an hour in the day during a portion of
the winter months, but most of my studying was
done at night, sometimes alone, sometimes under
some one whom I could hire to teach me. Mrs.
RufFner always encouraged and sympathized with
me in all my efforts to get an education. It was
while living with her that I began to get together my
first library. I secured a dry-goods box, knocked out
one side of it, put some shelves in it, and began
putting into it every kind of book that I could get
my hands upon, and called it my " library."

Notwithstanding my success at Mrs. Ruffner's
I did not give up the idea of going to the Hamp-
ton Institute. In the fall of 1872 I determined to
make an effort to get there, although, as I have
stated, I had no definite idea of the direction in
which Hampton was, or of what it would cost to
go there. I do not think that any one thoroughly
sympathized with me in my ambition to go to
Hampton unless it was my mother, and she was
troubled with a grave fear that I was starting out
on a " wild-goose chase." At any rate, I got only
a half-hearted consent from her that I might start.
The small amount of money that I had earned had
been consumed by my stepfather and the remainder
of the family, with the exception of a very few dol-
lars, and so I had very little with which to buy

46 UP FROM SLAVERY

clothes :ind pay my travelling expenses^ My
brother John helped me all that he could, but of
course that was not a great deal, for his work was
in the coal-mine, where he did not earn much, and
most of what he did earn went in the direction of
paying the household expenses.

Perhaps the thing that touched and pleased me
most in connection with my starting for Hampton
was the interest that many of the older coloured
people took in the matter. They had spent the
best days of their lives in slavery, and hardly ex-
pected to live to see the time when they would see
a member of their race leave home to attend a
boarding-school. Some of these older people
would give me a nickel, others a quarter, or a
handkerchief.

Finally the great day came, and I started for
Hampton. I had only a small, cheap satchel that
contained what few articles of clothing 1 could get*
My mother at the time was rather weak and broken
in health. I hardly expected to see her again, and
thus our parting was all the more sad* She, how-
ever, was very brave through it all. At that time
there were no through trains connecting that part
of West Virginia with eastern Virginia. Trains ran
only a portion of the way, and the remainder of
the distance was travelled by stage-cOaches.

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 47

The distaiicd from Maiden to Hampton is about
five hundred miles^ I had not been away from
home many hours before it began to grow painfully
evident that I did not have enough money to pay
my fare to Hampton. Ohe experience I shall long
remember. I had been travelling over the moun-
tains most of the afternoon in an old-fashioned
stage-coach, when, late in the evening, the coach
stopped for the hight at a common, unpainted
house called a hotel. All the other passengers
except myself were whites. In my ignorance I
supposed that the little hotel existed for the pur-
pose of accommodating the passengers who trav-
elled on the stage-coach. The difference that the
colour of one's skin would make I had not thought
anything about* After all the other passengers had
been shown rooms and were getting ready for sup-
per, I shyly presented myself before the man at
the desk. It is true I had practically no money in
my pocket with which to pay for bed or food, but I
had hoped in some way to beg my way into the
good graces of the landlord, for at that season in
the mountains of Virginia the weather was cold, and
I wanted to get indoors for the night. Without
aflking as to whether I had any money, the man at
the desk firmly refused to even consider the matter
of providing me with food or lodging. This was

48 UP FROM SLAVERY

my first experience in finding out what the colour of
my skin meant. In some way I managed to keep
warm by walking about, and so got through the
night. My whole soul was so bent upon reaching
Hampton that I did not have time to cherish any
bitterness toward the hotel-keeper.
* By walking, begging rides both in wagons and
in the cars, in some way, after a number of days, I
reached the city of Richmond, Virginia, about
eighty-two miles from Hampton. When I reached
there, tired, hungry, and dirty, it was late in the
night. I had never been in a large city, and this
rather added to my misery. When I reached
Richmond, I was completely out of money. I had
not a single acquaintance in the place, and, being
unused to city ways, I did not know where to go.
I applied at several places for lodging, but they all
wanted money, and that was what I did not have.
Knowing nothing else better to do, I walked the
streets. In doing this I passed by many food-
stands where fried chicken and half-moon apple
pies were piled high and made to present a most
tempting appearance. At that time it seemed to
me that I would have promised all that I expected
to possess in the future to have gotten hold of one
of those chicken legs or one of those pies. But I
could not get either of these, nor anything else to eat.

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 41,

I must have walked the streets till after mid-
night. At last I became so exhausted that I could
walk no longer. I was tired, I was hungry, I was
everything but discouraged. Just about the time
when I reached extreme physical exhaustion, I came
upon a portion of a street where the board sidewalk
was considerably elevated. I waited for a few min-
utes, till I was sure that no passers-by could see
me, and then crept under the sidewalk and lay for
the night upon the ground, with my satchel of
clothing for a pillow. Nearly all night I could
hear the tramp of feet over my head. The next
morning I found myself somewhat refreshed, but I
was extremely hungry, because it had been a long
time since I had had sufficient food. As soon as it
became light enough for me to see my surround-
ings I noticed that I was near a large ship, and that
this ship seemed to be unloading a cargo of pig
iron. I went at once to the vessel and asked the
captain to permit me to help unload the vessel in
order to get money for food. The captain, a white
man, who seemed to be kind-hearted, consented.
I worked long enough to earn money for my
breakfast, and it seems to me, as I remember It
now, to have been about the best breakfast that I
have ever eaten.

My work pleased the captain so well that he told

50 UP FROM' SLAVERY

me if I desired I could continue working for a
small amount per day. This I was very glad to
do* I continued working on this vessel for a num-
ber of days* After buying food with the small
wages I received there was not much left to add to
the amount I must get to pay my way to Hamp-
ton* In order to economiix in every way possible,
so as to be sure to reach Hampton in a reasonable
time^ I continued to sleep under the same sidewalk
that gave me shelter the first night I was in Rich-
mond. Many years after that the coloured citizens
of Richmond very kindly tendered me a reception
at which there must have been two thousand peo-
ple present. This reception was held not far from
the spot where I slept the first night I spent in
that cityi and I must confess that my mind was
more upon the sidewalk that first gave me shelter
than upon the reception^ agreeable and cordial as it
was.

When I had saved what I considered enough
money with which to reach Hampton, I thanked
the captain of the vessel for his kindness, and
started again. Without any unusual occurrence I
reached Hampton, with a surplus of exactly fifty
cents with which to begin my education. To me
it had been a long, eventful journey ; but the first
sight of the lat^e, three-story, brick school building

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 51

seemed to have rewarded me for all that I had
undergone in order to reach the place. If the peo-
ple who gave the money to provide that building
could appreciate the influence the sight of it had
upon me, as well as upon thousands of other
youths, they would feel all the more encouraged to
make such gifts. It seemed to me to be the largest
and most beautiful building I had ever seen. The
sight of it seemed to give me new life. I felt that
a new kind of existence had now begun — that life
would now have a new meaning. I felt that I had
reached the promised land, and I resolved to let no
obstacle prevent me from putting forth the highest
eflTort to fit myself to accomplish the most good in
the world.

As soon as possible after reaching the grounds
of the Hampton Institute, I presented myself
before the head teacher for assignment to a class.
Having been so long without proper food, a bath,
and change of clothing, I did not, of course, make
a very favourable impression upon her, and I could
see at once that there were doubts in her mind
about the wisdom of admitting me as a student, I
felt that I could hardly blame her if she got the
idea that I was a worthless loafer or tramp. For
some time she did not refuse to admit me, neither
did she decide in my favour, and I continued to

52 UP FROM SLAVERY

linger about her, and to impress her in all the ways
I could with my worthiness. In the meantime I
saw her admitting other students, and that added
greatly to my discomfort, for I felt, deep down in
my heart, that I could do as well as they, if I could
only get a chance to show what was in me.
^ After some hours had passed, the head teacher
said to me : " The adjoining recitation-room needs
sweeping. Take the broom and sweep it."

It occurred to me at once that here was my
chance. Never did I receive an order with more
delight. I knew that I could sweep, for Mrs. RufF-
ner had thoroughly taught me how to do that when
I lived with her.

I swept the recifation-room three times. Then I
got a dusting-cloth and I dusted it four times. All
the woodwork around the walls, every bench, table,
and desk, I went over four times with my dusting-
cloth. Besides, every piece of furniture had been
moved and every closet and corner in the room had
been thoroughly cleaned. I had the feeling that
in a large measure my future depended upon the
impression I made upon the teacher in the cleaning
of that room. When I was through, I reported to
the head teacher. She was a " Yankee " woman who
knew just where to look for dirt. She went into
che room and inspected the floor and closets ; then

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 53

she took her handkerchief and rubbed it on the
woodwork about the walls, and over the table and
benches. When she was unable to find one bit of
dirt on the floor, or a particle of dust on any of the
furniture, she quietly remarked, " I guess you will
do to enter this institution."

I was one of the happiest souls on earth. The '
sweeping of that room was my college examination,
and never did any youth pass an examination for
entrance into Harvard or Yale that gave him more
genuine satisfaction. I have passed several exami-
nations since then, but I have always felt that this
was the best one I ever passed.

I have spoken of my own experience in entering the
Hampton Institute. Perhaps few, if any, had any-
thing like the same experience that I had, but about
that same period there were hundreds who found
their way to Hampton and other institutions after
experiencing something of the same difficulties that
I went through. The young men and women were
determined to secure an education at any cost.

The sweeping of the recitation-room in the man
ner that I did it seems to have paved the way foi
me to get through Hampton. Miss Mary F,
Mackie, the head teacher, offered me a position as
janitor. This, of course, I gladly accepted, because
it was a place where I could work out nearly all the

\
I

54 UP FROM SLAVERY

eost of my board. The work wis hard and taxing,
but I stuck to it. I had a large number of rooms
to care for, and had to work late into the night,
while at the same time I had to rise by four o'clock
in the morning, in order to build the fires and have
a little time in which to prepare my lessons. In all
my career at Hampton, and ever since I have been
out in the world, Miss Mary F. Mackie, the head
teacher to whom I have referred, proved one of my
strongest and most helpful friends. Her advice and
encouragement were always helpful and strengthen^
ing to me in the darkest hour.

I have spoken of the impression that was made
upon me by the buildings and general appearance
of the Hampton Institute, but I have not spoken
of that which made the greatest and most lasting
impression upon me, and that was a great man — ^
the noblest, rarest human being that it has ever been
my privilege to meet. I refer to the late General
Samuel C. Armstrong.

It has been my fortune to meet personally many
of what are called great characters, both in Europe
and America, but I do not hesitate to say that I
never met any man who, in my estimation, waE
the equal of General Armstrong. Fresh from the
degrading influences of the slave plantation and the
coal*-mines, it was a rare privilege for me to be

•jf'- . r

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 55

permitted to come into direct contact with such a
character as General Armstrong, I shall always
remember that the first time I went into his presence
he made the impression upon me of being a perfect
man ; I was made to feel that there was something
about him that, was superhuman. It was my privi-
lege to know the General personally from the time
I entered Hampton till he died, and the more I saw
of him the greater he grew in my estimation. One
might have removed from Hampton all the build-
ings, class-rooms, teachers, and industries, and given
the men and women there the opportunity of coming
into daily contact with General Armstrong, and that
alone would have been a liberal education. The
older I grow, the more I am convinced that there is
no education which one can get from books and
costly apparatus that is equal to that which can be
gotten from contact with great men and women.
Instead of studying books so constantly, how I wish
that our schools and colleges might learn to study
men and things !

General Armstrong spent two of the last six
months of his life in my home at Tuskegee, At
that time he was paralyzed to the extent that he had
lost control of his body and voice in a very large
degree. Notwithstanding his affliction, he worked
almost constantly night and day for the cause to

56 UP FROM SLAVERY

which he had given his life. I never saw a man
who so completely lost sight of himself. I do not
believe he ever had a selfish thought. He was just
as happy in trying to assist some other institution
in the South as he was when working for Hampton.
Although he fought the Southern white man in the
Civil War, I never heard him utter a bitter word
against him afterward. On the other hand, he was
constantly seeking to find ways by which he could
be of service to the Southern whites.

It would be diflScult to describe the hold that he
had upon the students at Hampton, or the faith
they had in him. In fact, he was worshipped by his
students. It never occurred to me that General
Armstrong could fail in anything that he undertook.
There is almost no request that he could have made
that would not have been complied with. When he
was a guest at my home in Alabama, and was so
badly paralyzed that he had to be wheeled about in
an invalid's chair, I recall that one of the General's
former students had occasion to push his chair up
a long, steep hill that taxed his strength to the
utmost. When the top of the hill was reached, the
former pupil, with a glow of happiness on his facej
exclaimed, " I am so glad that I have been permitted
to do something that was real hard for the General
before he dies ! " While I was a student at Hamp-

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 57

ton, the dormitories became so crowded that it was
impossible to find room for all who wanted to be
admitted. In order to help remedy the difficulty,
the General conceived the plan of putting up tents
to be used as rooms. As soon as it became known
that General Armstrong would be pleased if some
of the older students would live in the tents during
the winter, nearly every student in school volunteered
to go.

I was one of the volunteers. The winter that we
spent in those tents was an intensely cold one, and
we suflfered severely — how much I am sure Gen-
eral Armstrong never knew, because we made no
complaints. It was enough for us to know that we
were pleasing General Armstrong, and that we were
making it possible for an additional number of stu-
dents to secure an education. More than once,
during a cold night, when a stiflT gale would be blow-
ing, our tent was lifted bodily, and we would find our-
selves in the open air. The General would usually
pay a visit to the tents early in the morning, and
his earnest, cheerful, encouraging voice would dispel
any feeling of despondency.

I have spoken of my admiration for General
Armstrong, and yet he v/as but a type of that
Christlike body of men and women who went into
the Negro schools at the close of the war by the

5 8 UP FROM SLAVERY

hundreds to assist in lifting up my race. The his-
tory of the world fails to show a higher, purer, and
more unselfish class of men and women than those
who found their way into those Negro schools.

Life at Hampton was a constant revelation to me ;
was constantly taking me into a new world. The
matter of having meals at regular hours, of eating
on a tablecloth, using a napkin, the use of the bath-
tub and of the tooth-brush, as well as the use of
sheets upon the bed, were all new to me.

I sometimes feel that almost the most valuable
lesson I got at the Hampton Institute was in the use
and value of the bath. I learned there for the first
time some of its value, not only in keeping the
body healthy, but in inspiring self-respect and pro-
moting virtue. In all my travels in the South and
elsewhere since leaving Hampton I have always in
some way sought my daily bath. To get it some-
times when I have been the guest of my own people
in a single-roomed cabin has not always been easy
to do, except by slipping away to some stream in
the woods. I have always tried to teach my people
that some provision for bathing should be a part of
every house.

For some time, while a student at Hampton, I
possessed but a single pair of socks, but when I had
worn these till they became soiled, I would wash

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 59

them at night and hang them by the fire to dry, so
that I might wear them again the next morning.

The charge for my board at Hampton was ten
dollars per month. I was expected to pay a part
of this in cash and to work out the remainder. To
meet this cash payment, as I have stated, I had
just fifty cents when I reached the institution.
Aside from a very few dollars that my brother
John was able to send me once in a while, I had
no money with which to pay my board. I was
determined from the first to make my work as
janitor so valuable that my services would be
indispensable. This I succeeded in doing to such
an extent that I was soon informed that I would
be allowed the full cost of my board in return for
my work. The cost of tuition was seventy dollars
a year. This, of course, was wholly beyond my
ability to provide. If I had been compelled to pay
the seventy dollars for tuition, in addition to pro-
viding for my board, I would have been compelled
to leave the Hampton school. General Armstrong,
however, very kindly got Mr. S. Griffitts Morgan,
of New Bedford, Mass., to defray the cost of my
tuition during the whole time that I was at Hamp-
ton. After I finished the course at Hampton and
had entered upon my lifework at Tuskegee, I had
the pleasure of visiting Mr. Morgan several times.

6o UP FROM SLAVERY

After having been for a while at Hampton, I
found myself in difficulty because I did not have
books and clothing. Usually, however, I got
around the trouble about books by borrowing from
those who were more fortunate than myself. As
to clothes, when I reached Hampton I had practi-
cally nothing. Everything that I possessed was in
a small hand satchel. My anxiety about clothing
was increased because of the fact that General Arm-
strong made a personal inspection of the young
men in ranks, to see that their clothes were clean.
Shoes had to be polished, there must be no buttons
off the clothing, and no grease-spots. To wear one
suit of clothes continually, while at work and in the
schoolroom, and at the same time keep it clean, was
rather a hard problem for me to solve. In some
way I managed to get on till the teachers learned
that I was in earnest and meant to succeed, and
then some of them were kind enough to see that I
was partly supplied with second-hand clothing that
had been sent in barrels from the North. These
barrels prbved a blessing to hundreds of poor but
deserving students. Without them I question
whether I should ever have gotten through
Hampton.

When I first went to Hampton I do not recall
that I had ever slept in a bed that had two sheets

THE STRUGGLE FOR AN EDUCATION 61

on it. In those days there were not many build-
ings there, and room was very precious. There
were seven other boys in the same room with me ;
most of them, however, students who had been
there for some time. The sheets were quite a puz-
zle to me. The first night I slept under both of
them, and the second night I slept on top of both
of them; but by watching the other boys I learned
my lesson in this, and have been trying to follow
it ever since and to teach it to others.

I was among the youngest of the students who
were in Hampton at that time. Most of the stu-
dents were men and women — some as old as forty
years of age. As I now recall the scene of my first
year, I do not believe that one often has the oppor-
tunity of coming into contact with three or four
hundred men and women who were so tremendously
in earnest as these men and women were. Every
hour was occupied in study or work. Nearly all
had had enough actual contact with the world to
teach them the need of education. Many of the
older ones were, of course, too old to master the
text-books very thoroughly, and it was often sad
to watch their struggles; but they made up in
earnestness much of what they lacked in books.
Many of them were as poor as I was, and, besides
having to wrestle with their books, they had to

62 UP FROM SLAVERY

sttuggle with a poverty which prevented their hav-
ing the necessities of life. Many of them had aged
parents who were dependent upon them, and some
of them were men who had wives whose support in
some way they had to provide for.

The great and prevailing idea that seemed to
take possession of every one was to prepare him-
self to lift up the people at his home. No one
seemed to think of himself. And the officers and
teachers, what a rare set of human beings they
were! They worked for the students night and
day, in season and out of season. They seemed
happy only when they were helping the students
in some manner. Whenever it is written — and I
hope it will be — the part that the Yankee teachers
played in the education of the Negroes immediately
after the war will make one of the most thrilling
parts of the history of this country. The time is
not far distant when the whole South will appre-
ciate this service in a way that it has not yet been
able to do.

CHAPTER IV

HELPING OTHERS

AT the end of my first year at Hampton I was
confronted with another difficulty. Most
* of the students went home to spend their
vacation. I had no money with which to go home,
but I had to go somewhere. In those days very
few students were permitted to remain at the school
during vacation. It made me feel very sad and
homesick to see the other students preparing to
leave and starting for home. I not only had no
money with which to go home, but I had none with
which to go anywhere.

In some way, however, I had gotten hold of an
extra, second-hand coat which I thought was a
pretty valuable coat. This I decided to sell, in
order to get a little money for travelling expenses.
I had a good deal of boyish pride, and I tried to
hide, as far as I could, from the other students the
fact that I had no money and nowhere to go. I
made it known to a few people in the town of
Hampton that I had this coat to sell, and, after a

64 UP FROM SLAVERY

good deal of persuading, one coloured man promised
to come to my room to look the coat over and
consider the matter of buying it. This cheered my
drooping spirits considerably. Early the next morn-
ing my prospective customer appeared. After look-
ing the garment over carefully, he asked me how
much I wanted for it. I told him I thought it was
worth three dollars. He seemed to agree with me
as to price, but remarked in the most matter-of-fact
way : " I tell you what I will do ; I will take the
coat, and I will pay you five cents, cash down, and
pay you the rest of the money just as soon as I can
get it." It is not hard to imagine what my feelings
were at the time.

With this disappointment I gave up all hope of
getting out of the town of Hampton for my vaca-
tion work. I wanted very much to go where I
might secure work that would at least pay me
enough to purchase some much-needed clothing
and other necessities. In a few days practically all
the students and teachers had left for their homes,
and this served to depress my spirits even more.

After trying for several days in and near the
town of Hampton, I finally secured work in a res-
taurant at Fortress Monroe. The wages, however,
were very little more than my board. At night, and
between meals, I found considerable time for study

HELPING OTHERS 65

and reading ; and in this direction I improved
myself very much during the summer.

When I left school at the end of my first year, I
owed the institution sixteen dollars that I had not
been able to work out. It was my greatest ambi-
tion during the summer to save money enough with
which to pay this debt. I felt that this was a debt
of honour, and that I could hardly bring myself to
the point of even trying to enter school again till it
was paid. I economized in every way that I could
think of — did my own washing, and went without
necessary garments — but still I found my summer
vacation ending and I did not have the sixteen
dollars.

One day, during the last week of my stay in the
restaurant, I found under one of the tables a crisp,
new ten-dollar bill. I could hardly contain myself,
I was so happy. As it was not my place of busi-
ness I felt it to be the proper thing to show the
money to the proprietor. This I did. He seemed
as glad as I was, but he coolly explained to me that,
as it was his place of business, he had a right to
keep the money, and he proceeded to do so. This,
I confess, was another pretty hard blow to me. I
will not say that I became discouraged, for as I
now look back over my life I do not recall that
I ever became discouraged over anvthing that I set

66 UP FROM SLAVERY

out to accomplish. I have begun everything with
the idea that I could succeed, and I never had
much patience with the multitudes of people who
are always ready to explain why one cannot succeed.
I have always had a high regard for the man who
could tell me how to succeed. I determined to face
the situation just as it was. At the end of the week
I went to the treasurer of the Hampton Institute,
General J. F. B. Marshall, and told him frankly my
condition. To my gratification he told me that I
could reenter the institution, and that he would
trust me to pay the debt when I could. During
the second year I continued to work as a janitor.

The education that I received at Hampton out
of the text-books was but a small part of what I
learned there. One of the things that impressed
itself upon me deeply, the second year, was the
unselfishness of the teachers. It was hard for me to
understand how any individuals could bring them-
selves to the point where they could be so happy in
working for others. Before the end of the year, I
think I began learning that those who are happiest
are those who do the most for others. This lesson
I have tried to carry with me ever since.

I also learned a valuable lesson at Hampton by
coming into contact with the best breeds of live
stock and fowls. No student, I think, who has had

HELPING OTHERS 67

the opportunity of doing this could go out into the
world and content himself with the poorest grades.

Perhaps the most valuable thing that I got out .
of my second year was an understanding of the use
and value of the Bible. Miss Nathalie Lord, one
of the teachers, from Portland, Me., taught me how
to use and love the Bible. Before this I had never
cared a great deal about it, but now I learned to
love to read the Bible, not only for the spiritual
help which it gives, but on account of it as literature.
The lessons taught me in this respect took such a
hold upon me that at the present time, when I am
at home, no matter how busy I am, I always make it
a rule to read a chapter or a portion of a chapter in
the morning, before beginning the work of the day.

Whatever ability I may have as a public speaker I
owe in a measure to Miss Lord. When she found
out that I had some inclination in this direction,
she gave me private lessons in the matter of breath-
ing, emphasis, and articulation. Simply to be able to
talk in public for the sake of talking has never had
the least attraction for me. In fact, I consider that
there is nothing so empty and unsatisfactory as
mere abstract public speaking ; but from my early
childhood I have had a desire to do something to
make the world better, and then to be able to
speak to the world about that thing.

68 UP FROM SLAVERY

The debating societies at Hampton were a con-
stant source of delight to me. These were held
on Saturday evening ; and during my whole life at
Hampton I do not recall that I missed a single
meeting. I not only attended the weekly debating
society, but was instrumental in organizing an addi-
tional society. I noticed that between the time
when supper was over and the time to begin even-
ing study there were about twenty minutes which
the young men usually spent in idle gossip. About
twenty of us formed a society for the purpose of
utilizing this time in debate or in practice in public
speaking. Few persons ever derived more happi-
ness or benefit from the use of twenty minutes of
time than we did in this way.

At the end of my second year at Hampton, by
the help of some money sent me by my mother
and brother John, supplemented by a small gift
from one of the teachers at Hampton, I was enabled
to return to my home in Maiden, West Virginia,
to spend my vacation. When I reached home I
found that the salt-furnaces were not running, and
that the coal-mine was not being operated on ac-
count of the miners being out on a " strike." This
was something which, it seemed, usually occurred
whenever the men got two or three months ahead
in their savings. During the strike, of course, they

HELPING OTHERS 69

spent all that they had saved, and would often
return to work in debt at the same wages, or would
move to another mine at considerable expense. In
either case, my observations convinced me that the
miners were worse ofF at the end of a strike. Be-
fore the days of strikes in that section of the coun-
try, I knew miners who had considerable money
in the bank, but as soon as the professional labour
agitators got control, the savings of even the more
thrifty ones began disappearing.

My mother and the other members of the family
were, of course, much rejoiced to see me and to
note the improvement that I had made during my
two years' absence. The rejoicing on the part of
all classes of the coloured people, and especially the
older ones, over my return, was almost pathetic.
I had to pay a visit to each family and take a meal
with each, and at each place tell the story of my
experiences at Hampton. In addition to this I
had to speak before the church and Sunday-school,
and at various other places. The thing that I was
most in search of, though, work, I could not find.
There was no work on account of the strike. I
spent nearly the whole of the first month of my va-
cation in an eflfort to find something to do by which
I could earn money to pay my way back to Hampton
and save a little money to use after reaching there.

70 UP FROM SLAVERY

Toward the end of the first month, I went to a
place a considerable distance from my home, to try
to find employment. I did not succeed, and it was
night before I got started on my return. When I
had gotten within a mile or so of my home I was
so completely tired out that I could not walk any
farther, and I went into an old, abandoned house
to spend the remainder of the night About three
o'clock in the morning my brother John found me
asleep in this house, and broke to me, as gently as
he could, the sad news that our dear mother had
died during the night.

This seemed to me the saddest and blankest
moment in my life. For several years my mother
had not been in good health, but I had no idea,
when I parted from her the previous day, that I
should never see her alive again. Besides that, I
had always had an intense desire to be with her
when she did pass away. One of the chief ambi-
tions which spurred me on at Hampton was that
I might be able to get to be in a position in which
I could better make my mother comfortable and
happy. She had so often expressed the wish that
•he might be permitted to live to see her children
educated and started out into the world.

In a very short time after the death of my
mother our little home was in confusion. My

HELPING OTHERS 71

sister Amanda, although she tried to do the best
she could, was too young to know anything about
keeping house, and my stepfather was not able to
hire a housekeepero Sometimes we had food cooked
for us, and sometimes we did not. I remember
that more than once a can of tomatoes and some
crackers constituted a meal. Our clothing went
uncared for, and everything about our home was
soon in a tumble-down condition. It seems to me
that this was the most dismal period of my life.

My good friend Mrs. RufFner, to whom I have
already referred, always made me welcome at her
home,and assisted me in many ways during this try-
ing period. Before the fend of the vacation she gave
me some work, and this, together with work in a
coal-mine at some distance from my home, enabled
me to earn a little money.

At one time it looked as if I would have to give
up the idea of returning to Hampton, but my heart
was so set on returning that I determined not to give
up going back without a struggle. I was very anx-
ious to secure some clothes for the winter, but in
this I was disappointed, except for a few garments
which my brother John secured for me. Notwith-
standing my need of money and clothing, I was very
happy in the fact that I had secured enough money
to pay my travelling expenses back to Hampton.

72 UP FROM SLAVERY

Once there, I knew that I could make myself so
useful as a janitor that I could in some way get
through the school year.

Three weeks before the time for the opening of
the term at Hampton, I was pleasantly surprised to
receive a letter from my good friend Miss Mary F.
Mackie, the lady principal, asking me to return to
Hampton two weeks before the opening of the
school, in order that I might assist her in cleaning
the buildings and getting things in order for the new
school year. This was just the opportunity I wanted.
It gave me a chance to secure a credit in the treas-
urer's office. I started for Hampton at once.

During these two weeks I was taught a lesson
which I shall never foi^et. Miss Mackie was a
member of one of the oldest and most cultured
families of the North, and yet for two weeks she
worked by my side cleaning windows, dusting rooms,
putting beds in order, and what not. She felt that
things would not be in condition for the opening of
school unless every window-pane was perfectly clean,
and she took the greatest satisfaction in helping to
clean them herself. The work which I have de-
scribed she did every year that I was at Hampton.

It was hard for me at this time to understand how
a woman of her education and social standing could
take such delight in performing such service^ in order

HELPING OTHERS 73

to assist in the elevation of an unfortunate race.
Ever since then I have had no patience with any
school for my race in the South which did not teach
its students the dignity of labour.

During my last year at Hampton every minute of
my time that was not occupied with my duties as
janitor was devoted to hard study. I was deter-
mined, if possible, to make such a record in my
class as would cause me to be placed on the " honour
roll" of Commencement speakers. This I was
successful in doing. It was June of 1875 when I
finished the regular course of study at Hampton.
The greatest benefits that I got out of my life at the
Hampton Institute, perhaps, may be classified under
two heads : —

First was contact with a great man. General S. C.
Armstrong, who, I repeat, was, in my opinion, the
rarest, strongest, and most beautiful character that it
has ever been my privilege to meet.

Second, at Hampton, for the first time, I learned
what education was expected to do for an individual.
Before going there I had a good deal of the then
rather prevalent idea among our people that to se-
cure an education meant to have a good, easy time,
free from all necessity for manual labour. At Hamp-
ton I not only learned that it was not a disgrace to
labour^ but learned to love labour^ not alone for its

74 UP FROM SLAVERY

financial value, but for labour's own sake and for the
independence and self-reliance which the ability to
do something which the world wants done brings.
At that institution I got my first taste of what it
meant to live a life of unselfishness, my first knowl-
edge of the fact that the happiest individuals are
those who do the most to make others useful and
happy.

- I was completely out of money when I graduated.
In company with other Hampton students, I secured
a place as a table waiter in a summer hotel in Con-
necticut, and managed to borrow enough money with
which to get there. I had not been in this hotel
long before I found out that I knew practically noth-
ing about waiting on a hotel table. The head
waiter, however, supposed that I was an accomplished
waiter. He soon gave me charge of a table at
which there sat four or five wealthy and rather aris-
tocratic people. My ignorance of how to wait upon
them was so apparent that they scolded me in such
a severe manner that I became frightened and left
their table, leaving them sitting there without food.
As a result of this I was reduced from the position
of waiter to that of a dish-carrier.

But I determined to learn the business of wait-
ing, and did so within a few weeks and was restored
to my former position. I have had the satisfaction

AN EARIY POPTRAIT OF BOOKER T WASHINGTON

HELPING OTHERS 75

of being a guest in this hotel several times since
I was a waiter there.

At the close of the hotel season I returned to my
former home in Maiden, and was elected to teach the
coloured school at that place. This was the be^n«
ning of one of the happiest periods of my life. I now
felt that I had the opportunity to help the people of
my home town to a higher life. I felt from the first
that mere book education was not all that the young
people of that town needed. I began my work at
dght o'clock in the morning, and, as a rule, it did
not end until ten o'clock at night. In addition to
the usual routine of teaching, I taught the pupils to
comb their hair, and to keep their hands and faces
clean, as well as their clothing. I gave special
attention to teaching them the proper use of the
tooth-brush and the hath. In all my teaching I have
watched carefully the influence of the tooth-brush,
and I am convinced that there are few single
agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching.

There were so many of the older boys and girls
in the town, as well as men and women, who had
to work in the daytime but still were craving an
opportunity for some education, that I soon opened
a night-school. From the first, this was crowded
every night, being about as large as the school
that I taught in the day. The efforts of some of

76 UP FROM SLAVERY

the men and women, who in many cases were over
fifty years of age, to learn, were in some cases very
pathetic.

My day and night school work was not all that I
undertook. I established a small reading-room and
a debating society. On Sundays I taught two
Sunday-schools, one in the town of Maiden in the
afternoon, and the other in the morning at a place
three miles distant from Maiden. In addition to
this, I gave private lessons to several young men
whom I was fitting to send to the Hampton Insti-
tute. Without regard to pay and with little thought
of it, I taught any one who wanted to learn any-
thing that I could teach him. I was supremely
happy in the opportunity of being able to assist
somebody else. I did receive, however, a small
salary from the public fund, for my work as a public-
school teacher.

During the time that I was a student at Hampton
my older brother, John, not only assisted me all that
he could, but worked all of the time in the coal-mines
in order to support the family. He willingly neg-
lected his own education that he might help me.
It was my earnest wish to help him to prepare to
enter Hampton, and to save money to assist him in
his expenses there. Both of these objects I was
successful in accomplishing. In three years my

HELPING OTHERS 77

brother finished the course at Hampton, and he is
now holding the important position of Superintend-
ent of Industries at Tuskegee. When he returned
from Hampton, we both combined our efforts and
savings to send our adopted brother, James, through
the Hampton Institute. This we succeeded in
doing, and he is now the postmaster at the Tus-
kegee Institute. The year 1877, which was my
second year of teaching in Maiden, I spent very
much as I did the first.

It was while my home was at Maiden that what
was known as the ^^Ku Klux Klan" was in the
height of its activity. The " Ku Klux " were bands
of men who had joined themselves together for the
purpose of regulating the conduct of the coloured
people, especially with the object of preventing the
members of the race from exercising any influ-
ence in politics. They corresponded somewhat to
the "patrollers" of whom I used to hear a great
deal during the days of slavery, when I was a small
boy. The " patroUers " were bands of white men
— usually young men — who were organized largely
for the purpose of regulating the conduct of the
slaves at night in such matters as preventing the
slaves from going from one plantation to another
without passes, and for preventing them from hold-
ing any kind of meetings without permission and

78 UP FROM SLAVERY

without the presence at these meetings of at least
one white man.

Like the " patroUers " the " Ku Klux " operated
almost wholly at night. They were, however, more
cruel than the " patroUers." Their objects, in the
main, were to crush out the political aspirations of
the Negroes, but they did not confine themselves
to this, because schoolhouses as well as churches
were burned by them, and many innocent persons
were made to suffer. During this period hot a
few coloured people lost their lives.

As a young man, the acts of these lawless bands
made a great impression upon me. I saw one open
battle take place at Maiden between some of the
coloured and white people. There must have been
not far from a hundred persons engaged on each
side; many on both sides were seriously injured,
among them being General Lewis Ruffner, the hus-
band of my friend Mrs. Viola Ruffner. General
Ruffner tried to defend the coloured people, and for
this he was knocked down and so seriously wounded
that he never completely recovered. It seemed to
me as I watched this struggle between members of
the two races, that there was no hope for our people
in this country. The " Ku Klux " period was, I
think, the darkest part of the Reconstruction days.

I have referred to this unpleasant part of the his-

HELPING OTHERS 79

tory of the South simply for the purpose of calling
attention to the great change that has taken place
since the days of the " Ku Klux." To-day there
are no such organizations in the South, and the fact
that such ever existed is almost forgotten by both
races. There are few places in the. South now where
public sentiment would permit such organizations
to exist.

CHAPTER V

THE llECONSTRUCTION PERIOD

THE years from 1867 to 1878 I think may-
be called the period of Reconstruction.
This included the time that I spent as a
student at Hampton and as a teacher in West
Virginia. During the whole of the Reconstruction
period two ideas were constantly agitating the minds
of the coloured people, or, at least, the minds of a
large part of the race. One of these was the craz€
for Greek and Latin learning, and the other was a
desire to hold office.

It could not have been expected that a people
.who had spent generations in slavery, and before
that generations in the darkest heathenism, could at
first form any proper conception of what an educa-
tion meant. In every part of the South, during the
Reconstruction period, schools, both day and night,
were filled to overflowing with people of all ages and
conditions, some being as far along in age as sixty
and seventy years. The ambition to secure an edu-
cation was most praiseworthy and encouraging. The

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 8i

idea, however, was too prevalent that, as soon as one
secured a little education, in some unexplainable way
he would be free from most of the hardships of the
world, and, at any rate, could live without manual
labour. There was a further feeling that a knowledge,
however little, of the Greek and Latin languages would
make one a very superior human being, something
bordering almost on the supernatural. I remember
that the first coloured man whom I saw who knew
something about foreign languages impressed me at
that time as being a man of all others to be envied.

Naturally, most of our people who received some
little education became teachers or preachers. While
among these two classes there were many capable,
earnest, godly men and women, still a large propor-
tion took up teaching or preaching as an easy way
to make a living. Many became teachers who could
do little more than write their names. I remember
there came into our neighbourhood one of this class,
who was in search of a school to teach, and the
question arose while he was there as to the shape of
the earth and how he would teach the children con- ^:

cerning this subject. He explained his position in
the matter by saying that he was prepared to teach ;

that the earth was either flat or round, according to \

the preference of a majority of his patrons.

The ministry was the profession that suflTered

82 UP FROM SLAVERY

most — and still suffers, though there has been great
improvement — on account of not only ignorant
but in many cases immoral men who claimed that
they were " called to preach." In the earlier days
of freedom almost every coloured man who learned
to read would receive " a call to preach " within a
few days after he began reading. At my home in
West Virginia the process of being called to the
ministry was a very interesting one. Usually the
"call" came when the individual was sitting in
church. Without warning the one called would fall
upon the floor as if struck by a bullet, and would lie
there for hours, speechless and motionless. Then the
news would spread all through the neighbourhood
that this individual had received a " call." If he
were inclined to resist the summons, he would fall
or be made to fall a second or third time. In the
end he always yielded to the call. While I wanted
an education badly, I confess that in my youth I
had a fear that when I had learned to read and
write well I would receive one of these " calls " ; but,
for some reason, my call never came.

When we add the number of wholly ignorant men
who preached or " exhorted ** to that of those who
possessed something of an education, it can be seen
at a glance that the supply of ministers was large.
In fact, some time ago I knew a certain church that

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 83

had a total membership of about two hundred, and
eighteen of that number were ministers. But, I re-
peat, in many communities in the South the character
of the ministry is being improved, and I believe that
within the next two or three decades a very large
proportion of the unworthy ones will have disap-
peared. The " calls " to preach, I am glad to say,
are not nearly so numerous now as they were for-
merly, and the calls to some industrial occupation are
growing more numerous. The improvement that
has taken place in the character of the teachers is
even more marked than in the case of the ministers.

During the whole of the Reconstruction period
our people throughout the South looked to the Fed-
eral Government for everything, very much as a
child looks to its mother. This was not unnatural.
The central government gave them freedom, and the
whole Nation had been enriched for more than two
centuries by the labour of the Negro. Even as a
youth, and later in manhood, I had the feeling that
it was cruelly wrong in the central government, at
the beginning of our freedom, to fail to make some
provision for the general education of our people in
addition to what the states might do, so that the
people would be the better prepared for the duties of
citizenship.

It is easy to find fault, to remark what might have

84 UP FROM SLAVERY

been done^ and perhaps^ after all, and under all the
circumstances, those in charge of the conduct of
affairs did the only thing that could be done at the
time. Still, as I look back now over the entire
period of our freedom, I cannot help feeling that it
would have been wiser if some plan could have been
put in operation which would have made the posses-
sion of a certain amount of education or property,
or both, a test for the exercise of the franchise, and
a way provided by which this test should be made
to apply honestly and squarely to both the white
and black races.

Though I was but little more than a youth dur-
ing the period of Reconstruction, I had the feeling
that mistakes were being made, and that things could
not remain in the condition that they were in then
very long. I felt that the Reconstruction policy, so
far as it related to my race, was in a large measure
on a false foundation, was artificial and forced. In
many cases it seemed to me that the ignorance of
my race was being used as a tool with which to help
white men into office, and that there was an element
in the North which wanted to punish the Southern
white men by forcing the Negro into positions
over the heads of the Southern whites. I felt that
the Negro would be the one to suffer for this in the
end. Besides, the general political agitation drew

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 85

the attention of our people away from the more fun-
damental matters of perfecting themselves in the
. industries at their doors and in securing property.

The temptations to enter political life were so al-
luring that I came very near yielding to them at one
time, but I was kept from doing so by the feeling
that I would be helping in a more substantial way by
assisting in the laying of the foundation of the race
through a generous education of the hand, head, and

•

heart. I saw coloured men who were members of the
state legislatures, and county officers, who, in some
cases, could not read or write, and whose morals
were as weak as their education. Not long ago,
when passing through the streets of a certain city in
the South, I heard some brick-masons calling out,
from the top of a two-story brick building on which
they were working, for the " Governor '* to " hurry
up and bring up some more bricks." Several times
I heard the command, "Hurry up. Governor!"
" Hurry up. Governor ! " My curiosity was aroused
to such an extent that I made inquiry as to who the
"Governor" was, and soon found that he was a
coloured man who at one time had held the position
of Lieutenant-Governor of his state.

But not all the coloured people who were in office
during Reconstruction were unworthy of their
positions, by any means. Some of them, like the

86 UP FROM SLAVERY

kte Senator B. K, Bruce, Governor Pinchback, and
many others, were strong, upright, useful men.
Neither were all the class designated as carpetbag-
gers dishonourable men. Some of them, like ex-
Governor Bullock, of Georgia, were men of high
character and usefulness*

Of course the coloured people, so largely without
education, and wholly without experience in govern-
ment, made tremendous mistakes, just as any peo-
ple similarly situated would have done. Many of
the Southern whites have a feeling that, if the
Negro is permitted to exercise his political rights
now to any degree, the mistakes of the Reconstruc-
tion period will repeat themselves. I do not think
this would be true, because the Negro is a much
stronger and wiser man than he was thirty-five
years ago, and he is fast learning the lesson that he
cannot afford to act in a manner that will alienate
his Southern white neighbours from him. More
and more I am convinced that the final solution of
the political end of our race problem will be for
each state that finds it necessary to change the law
bearing upon the franchise to make the law apply
with absolute honesty, and without opportunity for
double dealing or evasion, to both races alike. Any
other course my daily observation in the South
convinces me, will be unjust to the Negro, unjust

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 87

to the white man, and unfair to the rest of the
stated in the Union, and will be, like slavery, a sin
that at some time we shall have to pay for»

In the fall of 1878, after having taught school in
Maiden for two years, and after I had succeeded in
preparing several of the young men and women,
besides my two brothers, to enter the Hampton
Institute, I decided to spend some months in study
at Washington, D.C, I remained there for eight
months. I derived a great deal of benefit from
the studies which I pursued, and I came into con-
tact with some strong men and women. At the
institution I attended there was no industrial train-^
ing given to the students, and I had an opportunity
of comparing the influence of an institution with no
industrial training with that of one like the Hamp-
ton Institute, that emphasized the industries. At
this school I found the students, in most cases, had
more money, were better dressed, wore the latest
style of all manner of clothing, and in some cases
were more brilliant mentally. At Hampton it was
a standing rule that, while the institution would be
responsible for securing some one to pay the tuition
for the students, the men and women themselves must
provide for their own board, books, clothing, and
room wholly by work, or partly by work and partly
in cash. At the institution at which I now was^ I

88 UP FROM SLAVERY

found that a large proportion of the students by
some means had their personal expenses paid for
them. At Hampton the student was constantly
making the effort through the industries to help
himself, and that very effort was of immense value
in character-building. The students at the other
school seemed to be less self-dependent. They
seemed to give more attention to mere outward
appearances. In a word, they did not appear to
me to be beginning at the bottom, on a real,
solid foundation, to the extent that they were at
Hampton. They knew more about Latin and
Greek when they left school, but they seemed to
know less about life and its conditions as they
would meet it at their homes. Having lived for
a number of years in the midst of comfortable sur-
roundings, they were not as much inclined as the
Hampton students to go into the country districts
of the South, where there was little of comfort, to
take up work for our people, and they were more
inclined to yield to the temptation to become hotel
waiters and Pullman-car porters as their life-work.

During the time I was a student in Washington
the city was crowded with coloured people, many of
whom had recently come from the South. A large
proportion of these people had been drawn to
Washington because they felt that they could lead

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 89

a life of ease there. Others had secured minor
government positions, and still another large class
was there in the hope of securing Federal positions.
A number of coloured men — some of them very
strong and brilliant — were in the House of Rep-
resentatives at that time, and one, the Hon. B. K.
Bruce, was in the Senate. All this tended to make
Washington an attractive place for members of the
coloured race. Then, too, they knew that at all
times they could have the protection of the law in
the District of Columbia. The public schools in
Washington for coloured people were better then
than they were elsewhere. I took great interest in
studying the life of our people there closely at that
time. I found that while among them there was a
large element of substantial, worthy citizens, there
was also a superficiality about the life of a large
class that greatly alarmed me. I saw young coloured
men who were not earning more than four dollars a
week spend two dollars or more for a buggy on
Sunday to ride up and down Pennsylvania Avenue
in, in order that they might try to convince the
world that they were worth thousands. I saw other
young men who received seventy-five or one hun-
dred dollars per month from the Government, who
were in debt at the end of every month. I saw
men who but a few months previous were members

90 UP FROM SLAVERY

of Congress, theh without employment and in pOv-
erty. Among a large class there seemed to be a
dependence upon the Government for every con-
ceivable thing. The members of this class had
little ambition to create a position for themselves,
but Wanted the Federal officials to create one for
them. How itiany times I wished then, and have
often wished since, that by some power of magic I
might remove the great bulk of these people into
the country districts and plant them upon the soil,
upoh the solid and never deceptive foundation of
Mother Nature, where all nations and races that
have ever succeeded have gotten their start, — ' a start
that at first may be slow and toilsome, but one that
nevertheless is real.

In Washington I siw girls whose mothers were
earning their living by laundrying. These girls
were taught by their mothers, in rather a crude
way it is true, the industry of laundrying. Later,
these girls entered the public schools and remained
there perhaps six or eight years. When the public-
school course was finally finished, they wanted more
costly dresses, more costly hats and shoed. In a
word, while their wants had been increased, their
ability to supply their wants had not been increased
in the same degree. On the other hand, their six
or eight years of book education had weaned them

THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD 91

away from the occupation of their mothers. The
result of this was in too many cases that the girls
went to the bad. I often thought how much wiser
it would have been to give these girls the same
amount of mental training — and I favour any kind
of training, whether in the languages or mathe-
matics, that gives strength and culture to the mind
-^but at the same time to give them the mq^t
thorough training in the latest and best methods
of laundrying and other kindred occupations.

CHAPTER VI

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE

DURING the year that I spent in Washing-
ton, and for some little time before this,
there had been considerable agitation in
the state of West Virginia over the question of
moving the capital of the state from Wheeling to
some other central point. As a result of this, the
Legislature designated three cities to be voted upon
by the citizens of the state as the permanent seat
of government. Among these cities was Charles-
ton, only fiv© miles from Maiden, my home. At
the close of my school year in Washington I was
very pleasantly surprised to receive, from a com-
mittee of white people in Charleston, an invitation
to canvass the state in the interests of that city.
This invitation I accepted, and spent nearly thre>e
months in speaking in various parts of the state.
Charleston was successful in winning the prize, and
is now the permanent seat of government.

The reputation that I made as a speaker during
this campaign induced a number of persons to

9»

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE 93

make an earnest effort to get me to enter political
life, but I refused, still believing that I could find
other service which would prove of more perma-
nent value to my race. Even then I had a strong
feeling that what our people most needed was to
get a foundation in education, industry, and prop-
erty, and for this I felt that they could better afford
to strive than for political preferment. As for my
individual self, it appeared to me to be reasonably
certain that I could succeed in political life, but I
had a feeling that it would be a rather selfish kind
of success — individual success at the cost of failing
to do my duty in assisting in laying a foundation
for the masses.

At this period in the progress of our race a very
large proportion of the young men who went to
school or to college did so with the expressed deter-
mination to prepare themselves to be great lawyers,
or Congressmen, and many of the women planned
to become music teachers ; but I had a reasonably
fixed idea, even at that early period in my life, that
there was need for something to be done to prepare
the way for successful lawyers. Congressmen, and
music teachers.

I felt that the conditions were a good deal like
those of an old coloured man, during the days of
slavery, who wanted to le^rn how to play on the

94 UP FROM SLAVERY

guitar. In his desire to take guitar lessons he
applied to one of his young masters to teach him ;
but the young man, not having much faith in the
ability of the slave to master the guitar at his age,
sought to discourage him by telling him : " Uncle
Jake, I will give you guitar lessons ; but, Jake, I
will have to charge you three dollars for the first
lesson, two dollars for the second lesson, and one
dollar for the third lesson. But I will charge you
only twenty-five cents for the last lesson/'

Uncle Jake answered : " All right, boss, I hires
you on dem terms. But, boss ! I wants yer to be
sure an* give me dat las* lesson first.*^

Soon after my work in connection with the re-
moval of the capital was finished, I received an
invitation which gave me great joy and which at
the same tin^e was a very pleasant surprise. This
was a letter from General Armstrong, inviting me
to return to Hampton at the next Commencement
to deliver what was called the ^^ post-graduate ad-
dress.** This was an honour which I had not
dreamed of receiving. With much care I prepared
the best address that I was capable of. I chose
for my subject " The Force That Wins.'*

As I returned to Hampton for the purpose of
delivering this address, I went over much of the
game ground — now, however, covered entirely by

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE 95

railroad — that I had traversed nearly six years be-
fore, when I first sought entrance into Hampton
Institute as a student. Now I was able to ride
the whole distance in the train. I was constantly
contrasting this with my first journey to Hampton.
I think I may say, without seeming egotism, that
it is seldom that five years have wrought such a
change in the life and aspirations of an individual.
At Hampton I received a warm welcome from
teachers and students. I found that during my
absence from Hampton the institute each year had
been getting closer to the real needs and conditions
of our people ; that the industrial teaching, as well
as that of the academic department, had greatly
improved. The plan of the school was not
modelled after that of any other institution then
in existence, but every improvement was made
under the magnificent leadership of General Arm-
strong solely with the view of meeting and helping
the needs of our people as they presented them-
selves at the time. Too often, it seems to me, in
missionary and educational work among unde-
veloped races, people yield to the temptation of
doing that which was done a hundred years before,
or is being done in other communities a thousand
miles away. The temptation often is to run each
individual through a certain educational mould, re«

96 UP FROM SLAVERY

gardless of the condition of the subject or the end
to be accomplished. This was not so at Hampton
Institute.

The address which I delivered on Commence-
ment Day seems to have pleased every one, and
many kind and encouraging words were spoken
to me regarding it. Soon after my return to my
home in West Virginia, where I had planned to
continue teaching, I was again surprised to receive
a letter from General Armstrong, asking me to
return to Hampton partly as a teacher and partly
to pursue some supplementary studies. This was
in the summer of 1879. Soon after I began my
first ' teaching in West Virginia I had picked out
four of the brightest and most promising of my
pupils, in addition to my two brothers, to whom
I have already referred, and had given them special
attention, with the view of having them go to
Hampton. They had gone there, and in each case
the teachers had found them so well prepared that
they entered advanced classes. This fact, it seems,
led to my being called back to Hampton as a
teacher. One of the young men that I sent to
Hampton in this way is now Dr. Samuel E. Court-
ney, a successful physician in Boston, and a mem-
ber of the School Board of that city.

About this time the experiment was being tried

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE 97

for the first time, by General Armstrong, of educat-
ing Indians at Hampton. Few people then had
any confidence in the ability of the Indians to
receive education and to profit by it. General
Armstrong was anxious to try the experiment sys-
tematically on a large scale. He secured from the
reservations in the Western states over one hun-
dred wild and for the most part perfectly ignorant
Indians, the greater proportion of whom were young
men. The special work which the General desired
me to do was to be a sort of " house father " to the
Indian young men — that is, I was to live in the
building with them and have the charge of their
discipline, clothing, rooms, and so on. This was
a very tempting offer, but I had become so much
absorbed in my work in West Virginia that I
dreaded to give it up. However, I tore myself
away from it. I did not know how to refuse to
perform any service that General Armstrong de-
sired of me.

On going to Hampton, I took up my residence
in a building with about seventy-five Indian youths.
I was the only person in the building who was not
a member of their race. At first I had a good deal
of doubt about my ability to succeed. I knew that
the average Indian felt himself above the white
man, and, of course, he felt himself far above the

98 UP FROM SLAVERY

Negro, largely on account of the fact of the Negro
having submitte4 to slavery— ^a thing which the
Indian would never do. The Indians, in the
Indian Territory, owned a large number of slaves
during the days of slavery. Aside from this, there
was a general feeling that the attempt to educate
and civilize the red men at Hampton would be a
failure. All this made me proceed very cautiously,
for I felt keenly the great re3ponsibility. But I
was determined to succeed. It was not long before
I had the complete confidence of the Indians, and
not only this, but I think I am safe in saying that
I had their love and respect. I found that they
were about like any other human beings ; that they
responded to kind treatment and resented ill-treat-^
ment. They were continually planning to do
something that would add to my happiness and
comfort. The things that they disliked most, I
think, were to have their long hair cut, to give up
wearing their blankets, and to cease smoking ; but
no white American ever thinks that any other race
is wholly civilized until he wears the white man's
clothes, eats the white man's food, speaks the white
man's language, and professes the white man's
religion.

When the difficulty of learning the English lan-
guage was subtracted, I found that in the matter

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE 99

of learning trades and in mastering academic studies
there was little difference between the coloured and
Indian students. It was a constant delight to me
to note the interest which the coloured students took
in trying to help the Indians in every way possible.
There were a few of the coloured students who felt
that the Indians ought not to be admitted to
Hampton, but these were in the minority. When-
ever they were asked to do so, the Negro students
gladly took the Indians as room-mates, in order
that they might teach them to speak English and
to acquire civilized habits.

I have often wondered if there was a white
institution in this country whose students would
have welcomed the incoming of more than a hun-
dred companions of another race in the cordial way
that these black students at Hampton welcomed
the red ones. How often I have wanted to say to
white students that they lift themselves up in pro-
portion as they help to lift others, and the more
unfortunate the race, and the lower in the scale of
civilization, the more does one raise one's self by
giving the assistance.

This reminds me of a conversation which I once
had with the Hon. Frederick Douglass. At one
time Mr. Douglass was travelling in the state of
Pennsylvania, and was forced, on account of his

lOO UP FROM SLAVERY

colour, to ride in the baggage-<:ar, in spite of the
fact that he had paid the same price for his passage
that the other passengers had paid. When some
of the white passengers went into the baggage-car
to console Mr. Douglass, and one of them said to
him : " I am sorry, Mr. Douglass, that you have
been degraded in this manner," Mr. Douglass
straightened himself up on the box upon which he
was sitting, and replied: "They cannot degrade
Frederick Douglass. The soul that is within me no
man can degrade. I am not the one that is being
degraded on account of this treatment, but those
who are inflicting it upon me."

In one part of our country, where the law de-
mands the separation of the races on the railroad
trains, I saw at one time a rather amusing instance
which showed how difficult it sometimes is to know
where the black begins and the white ends.

There was a man who was well known in his
community as a Negro, but who was so white that
even an expert would have hard work to classify
him as a black man. This man was riding in
the part of the train set aside for the coloured pas-
sengers. When the train conductor reached him,
he showed at once that he was perplexed. If the
man was a Negro, the conductor did not want to
send him into the white people's coach; at the

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE loi

same time, If he was a white man, the conductor
did not want to insult him by asking him if he was
a Negro. The official looked him over carefully,
examining his hair, eyes, nose, and hands, but
still seemed puzzled. Finally, to solve the diffi-
culty, he stooped over and peeped at the man's
feet. When I saw the conductor examining the
feet of the man in question, I said to myself, "That
will settle it ; " and so it did, for the trainman
promptly decided that the passenger was a Negro,
and let him remain where he was. I congratulated
myself that my race was fortunate in not losing one
of its members.

My experience has been that the time to test a
true gentleman is to observe him when he is in
contact with individuals of a race that is less fortu-
nate than his own. This is illustrated in no better
way than by observing the conduct of the old-
school type of Southern gentleman when he is in
contact with his former slaves or their descendants.

An example of what I mean is shown in a story
told of George Washington, who, meeting a coloured
man in the road once, who politely lifted his hat,
lifted his own in return. Some of his white friends
who saw the incident criticised Washington for his
action. In reply to their criticism George Wash-
ington said : " Do you suppose that I am going to

102 UP FROM SLAVERY

permit a poor, ignorant, coloured man to be more
polite than I am ? "

While I was in charge of the Indian boys at
Hampton, I had one or two experiences which
illustrate the curious workings of caste in America.
One of the Indian boys was taken ill, and it became
my duty to take him to Washington, deliver him
over to the Secretary of the Interior, and get a
receipt for him, in order that he might be returned
to his Western reservation. At that time I was
rather ignorant of the ways of the world. During
my journey to Washington, on a steamboat, when
the bell rang for dinner, I was careful to wait and
not enter the dining room until after the greater
part of the passengers had finished their meal«
Then, with my charge, I went to the dining saloon«
The man in charge politely informed me that the
Indian could be served, but that I could not. I
never could understand how he knew just where to
draw the colour line, since the Indian and I were
of about the same complexion. The steward, how-
ever, seemed to be an expert in this matter. I had
been directed by the authorities at Hampton to stop
at a certain hotel in Washington with my charge,
but when I went to this hotel the clerk stated
that he would be glad to receive the Indiali into the
house, but said that he could not accommodate me.

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE 103

An illustration of something of this same feeling
came under my observation afterward. I happened
to find myself in a town in which so much excite-
ment and indignation were being expressed that it
seemed likely for a time that there would be a
lynching. The occasion of the trouble was that
a dark-skinned man had stopped at the local hotel.
Investigation, however, developed the fact that this
individual was a citizen of Morocco, and that while
travelling in this country he spoke the English
language. As soon as it was learned that he was
not an American Negro, all the signs of indignation
disappeared. The man who was the innocent cause
of the excitement, though, found it prudent after
that not to speak English.

At the end of my first year with the Indians
there came another opening for me at Hampton,
which, as I look back over my life now, seems to
have come providentially, to help to prepare me for
my work at Tuskegee later. General Armstrong
had found out that there was quite a number of
young coloured men and women who were intensely
in earnest in wishing to get an education, but who
were prevented from entering Hampton Institute
because they were too poor to be able to pay any
pOTtion of the cost of their board, or even to supply
themselves with books. He conceived the idea of

104 UP FROM SLAVERY

starting a night-school in connection with the Insti-
tute, into which a limited number of the most
promising of these young men and women would
be received, on condition that they were to work
for ten hours during the day, and attend school for
two hours at night. They were to be paid some-
thing above the cost of their board for their work.
The greater part of their earnings was to be reserved
in the school's treasury as a fiind to be drawn on to
pay their board when they had become students in
the day-school, after they had spent one or two
years in the night-school. In this way they would
obtain a start in their books and a knowledge of
some trade or industry, in addition to the other far-
reaching benefits of the institution.

General Armstrong asked me to take charge of
the night-school, and I did so. At the beginning
of this school there were about twelve strong, earnest
men and women who entered the class. During the
day the greater part of the young men worked in
the school's sawmill, and the young wpmen worked
in the laundry. The work was not easy in either
place, but in all my teaching I never taught pupils
who gave me such genuine satisfaction as these did.
They were good students, and mastered their work
thoroughly. They were so much in earnest that
only the ringing of the retiring-bell would make

BLACK RACE AND RED RACE 105

them stop studying, and often they would urge me
to continue the lessons after the usual hour for
going to bed had come.

These students showed so much earnestness,
both in their hard work during the day, as well
as in their application to their studies at night, that
I gave them the name of " The Plucky Class "
— a name which soon grew popular and spread
throughout the institution. After a student had
been in the night-school long enough to prove what
was in him, I gave him a printed certificate which
read something like this : —

" This is to certify that James Smith is a member
of The Plucky Class of the Hampton Institute, and
is in good and regular standing."

The students prized these certificates highly, and
they added greatly to the popularity of the night-
school. Within a few weeks this department had
grown to such an extent that there were about
twenty-five students in attendance. I have followed
the course of many of these twenty-five men and
women ever since then, and they are now holding
important and useful positions in nearly every part
of the South. The night-school at Hampton, which
started with only twelve students, now numbers be-
tween three and four hundred, and is one of the per-
manent and most important features of the institution.

CHAPTER VII

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE

DURING the time that I had charge of the
Indians and the night-school at Hampton,
I pursued some studies myself, under the
direction of the instructors there. One of these in-
structors was the Rev. Dr. H. B. Frissell, the pres-
ent Principal of the Hampton Institute, General
Armstrong's successor.

In May, 1881, near the close of my first year in
teaching the night-school, in a way that I had not
dared expect, the opportunity opened for me to be-
gin my life-work. One night in the chapel, after
the usual chapel exercises were over. General Arm-
strong referred to the fact that he had received a
letter from some gentlemen in Alabama asking him
to recommend some one to take charge of what was
to be a normal school for the coloured people in the
little town of Tuskegee in that state. These gen-
tlemen seemed to take it for granted that no coloured
man suitable for the position could be secured, and

they were expecting the General to recommend a

106

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE 107

white imin for the place. The next day General
Armstrong sent for me to come to his office, and,
much to my surprise, asked me if I thought I could
fill the position in Alabama. I told him that I
would be willing to try. Accordingly, he wrote to
the people who had applied to him for the informa-
tion, that he did not know of any white man to sug-
gest, but if they would be willing to take a coloured
man, he had one whom he could recommend. In
this letter he gave them my name.

Several days passed before anything more was
heard about the matter^ Some time afterward, one
Sunday evening during the chapel exercises, a mes-
senger came in and handed the General a telegram.
At the end of the exercises he read the telegram to
the school. In substance, these were its words :
" Booker T. Washington will suit us. Send him
at once."

There was a great deal of joy expressed among
the students and teachers, and I received very hearty
congratulations. I began to get ready at once to go
to Tuskegee. I went by way of my old home in
Wtjst Virginia, where I remained for several days, after
which I proceeded to Tuskegee. I found Tuske-
gee to be a town of about two thousand inhabitants,
nearly one-half of whom were coloured. It was in
what was known as the Black Belt of the South. In

io8 UP FROM SLAVERY

the county in which Tuskegee is situated the coloured
people outnumbered the whites by about three to
one. In some of the adjoining and near-by coun-
ties the proportion was not far from six coloured
persons to one white.

I have often been asked to define the term "Black
Belt." So far as I can learn, the term was first used
to designate a part of the country which was distin-
guished by the colour of the soil. The part of the
country possessing this thick, dark, and naturally
rich soil was, of course, the part of the South where
the slaves were most profitable, and consequently
they were taken there in the largest numbers. Later,
and especially since the war, the term seems to be
used wholly in a political sense — that is, to desig-
nate the counties where the black people outnumber
the white.

Before going to Tuskegee I had expected to find
there a building and all the necessary apparatus ready
for me to begin teaching. To my disappointment,
I found nothing of the kind. I did find, though,
that which no costly building and apparatus can sup-
ply, — hundreds of hungry, earnest souls who wanted
to secure knowledge.

Tuskegee seemed an ideal place for the school.
It was in the midst of the great bulk of the Negro
population, and was rather secluded, being five miles

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE 109

from the main line of railroad, with which it was
connected by a short line. During the days of slav-
ery, and since, the town had been a centre for the
education of the white people. This was an added
advantage, for the reason that I found the white peo-
ple possessing a degree of culture and education that
is not surpassed by many localities. While the col-
oured people were ignorant, they had not, as a rule,
degraded and weakened their bodies by vices such
as are common to the lower class of people in the
large cities. In general, I found the relations be-
tween the two races pleasant. For example, the
largest, and I think at that time the only hardware
store in the town was owned and operated jointly by
a coloured man and a white man. This copartner-
ship continued until the death of the white partner.
I found that about a year previous to my going
to Tuskegee some of the coloured people who had
heard something of the work of education being
done at Hampton had applied to the state Legisla-
ture, through their representatives, for a small appro-
priation to be used in starting a normal school in
Tuskegee. This request the Legislature had com-
plied with to the extent of granting an annual appro-
priation of two thousand dollars. I soon learned,
however, that this money could be used only for the
payment of the salaries of the instructors, and that

no UP FROM SLAVERY

there was no provision for securing land, buildings,
or apparatus. The task before me did not seem a
very encouraging one. It seemed much like mak-
ing bricks without straw. The coloured people were
overjoyed, and were constantly offering their services
in any way in which they could be of assistance in
getting the school started.

My first task was to find a place in which to open
the school. After looking the town over with some
care, the most suitable place that could be secured
seemed to be a rather dilapidated shanty near the
coloured Methodist church, together with the church
itself as a sort of assembly-room. Both the church
and the shanty were in about as bad condition as
was possible. I recall that during the first months
of school that I taught in this building it was in
such poor repair that, whenever it rained, one of the
older students would very kindly leave his lessons
and hold an umbrella over me while I heard the
recitations of the others. I remember, also, that
on more than one occasion my landlady held an
umbrella over me while I ate breakfast.

At the time I went to Alabama the coloured people
were taking considerable interest in politics, and
they were very anxious that I should become one of
them politically, in every respect. They seemed to
have a little distrust of strangers in this regard. I

JINGS ON GROUNU WHEN PURCHASED FOR THE

TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE
li first schngl buildings. The one on the righl is still in use.

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE iii

recall that one man^ who seemed to have been desig-
nated by the others to look after my political des-
tiny^ came to me on several occasions and said, with
a good deal of earnestness : " We wants you to be
sure to vote jes' like we votes. We can't read de
newspapers very much, but we knows how to vote,
an' we wants you to vote jes' like we votes." He
added : " We watches de white man, and we keeps
watching de white man till we finds out which way
de white man's gwine to vote ; an' when we finds out
which way de white man's gwine to vote, den we
votes 'xactly de other way. Den we knows we'«
right."

I am glad to add, however, that at the present
time the disposition to vote against the white man
merely because he is white is largely disappearing,
and the race is learning to vote from principle, for
what the voter considers to be for the best interests
of both races.

I reached Tuskegee, as I have said, early in June,
1 88 1. The first month I spent in finding accom-
modations for the school, and in travelling through
Alabama, examining into the actual life of the peo-
ple, especially in the country districts, and in getting
the school advertised among the class of people that
I wanted to have attend it. The most of my trav-
elling was done over the country roads, with a mule

112 UP FROM SLAVERY

and a cart or a mule and a buggy wagon for con-
veyance. I ate and slept with the people, in their
little cabins. I saw their farms, their schools, their
churches. Since, in the case of the most of these
visits, there had been no notice given in advance
that a stranger was expected, I had the advantage of
seeing the real, everyday life of the people.

In the plantation districts I found that, as a rule,
the whole family slept in one room, and that in addi-
tion to the immediate family there sometimes were
relatives, or others not related to the family, who
slept in the same room. On more than one occa-
sion I went outside the house to get ready for bed,
or to wait until the family had gone to bed. They
usually contrived some kind of a place for me to
sleep, either on the floor or in a special part of an-
other's bed. Rarely was there any place provided
in the cabin where one could bathe even the face
and hands, but usually some provision was made
for this outside the house, in the yard.

The common diet of the people was fat pork and
corn bread. At times I have eaten in cabins where
they had only corn bread and "black-eye peas"
cooked in plain water. The people seemed to have
no other idea than to live on this fat meat and corn
bread, — the meat, and the meal of which the bread
was made, having been bought at a high price at 9

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE 113

store in town, notwithstanding the fact that the land
all about the cabin homes could easily have been
made to produce nearly every kind of garden vege-
table that is raised anywhere in the country. Their
one object seemed to be to plant nothing but cotton ;
and in many cases cotton was planted up to the very
door of the cabin.

In these cabin homes I often found sewing-
machines which had been bought, or were being
bought, on instalments, frequently at a cost of as
much as sixty dollars, or showy clocks for which the
occupants of the cabins had paid twelve or fourteen
dolkrs. I remember that on one occasion when I
went into one of these cabins for dinner, when I sat
down to the table for a meal with the four members
of the family, I noticed that, while there were five
of us at the table, there was but one fork for the
five of us to use. Naturally there was an awkward
pause on my part. In the opposite corner of that
same cabin was an organ for which the people told
me they were paying sixty dollars in monthly in-
stalments. One fork, and a sixty-dollar organ !

In most cases the sewing-machine was not used,
the clocks were so worthless that they did not keep
correct time — and if they had, in nine cases out of
ten there would have been no one in the family who
could have told the time of day — while the organ,

114 UP FROM SLAVERY

of course, was rarely used for want of a person who
could play upon it.

In the case to which I have referred, where the
family sat down to the table for the meal at which I
was their guest, I could see plainly that this was an
awkward and unusual proceeding, and was done in
fny honour. In most cases, when the family got up
in the morning, for example, the wife would put a
piece of meat in a frying-pan and put a lump of
dough in a " skillet," as they called it. These uten-
sils would be placed on the fire, and in ten or fifteen
minutes breakfast would be ready. Frequently the
husband would take his bread and meat in his hand
and start for the field, eating as he walked. The
mother would sit down in a corner and eat her
breakfast, perhaps from a plate and perhaps directly
from the " skillet " or frying-pan, while the children
would eat their portion of the bread and meat while
running about the yard. At certain seasons of the
year, when meat was scarce, it was rarely that the
children who were not old enough or strong enough
to work in the fields would have the luxury of meat.

The breakfast over, and with practically no atten-
tion given to the house, the whole family would, as
a general thing, proceed to the cotton-field. Every
child that was large enough to carry a hoe was put
to work, and the baby — for usually there was at

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE 115

least one baby — would be laid down at the end of
the cotton row, so that its mother could give it a
certain amount of attention when she had finished
chopping her row. The noon meal and the supper
were taken in much the same way as the breakfast.

All the days of the family would be spent after
much this same routine, except Saturday and Sun-
day. On Saturday the whole family would spend
at least half a day, and often a whole day, in town.
The idea in going to town was, I suppose, to do
shopping, but all the shopping that the whole family
had motley for could have been attended to in ten
minutes by one person. Still, the whole family
remained in town for most of the day, spending the
greater part of the time in standing on the streets,
the women, too often, sitting about somewhere
smoking or dipping snufF. Sunday was usually
spent in going to some big meeting. With few
exceptions, I found that the crops were mortgaged
in the counties where I went, and that the most of
the coloured farmers were in debt. The state had
not been able to build schoolhouses in the country
districts, and, as a rule, the schools were taught in
churches or in log cabins. More than once, while
on my journeys, I found that there was no provision
made in the house used for school purposes for
heating the building during the winter, and con-

ii6 UP FROM SLAVERY

sequently a fire had to be built in the yard, and
teacher and pupils passed in and out of the house
as they got cold or warm. With few exceptions, I
found the teachers in these country schools to be
miserably poor in preparation for their work, and
poor in moral character. The schools were in ses-
sion from three to five months. There was practi-
cally no apparatus in the schoolhouses, except that
occasionally there was a rough blackboard. I recall
that one day I went into a schoolhouse — or rather
into an abandoned log cabin that was being used as
a schoolhouse — and found five pupils who were
studying a lesson from one book. Two of these,
on the front seat, were using the book between
them ; behind these were two others peeping over
the shoulders of the first two, and behind the four
was a fifth little fellow who was peeping over the
shoulders of all four.

What I have said concerning the character of the
schoolhouses and teachers will also apply quite accu-
rately as a description of the church buildings and
the ministers.

I met some very interesting characters during my
travels. As illustrating the peculiar mental processes
of the country people, I remember that I asked one
coloured man, who was about sixty years old, to tell
me something of his history. He said that he had

EARLY DAYS AT TUSKEGEE 117

been born in Virginia, and sold into Alabama in
1845. ^ asked him how many were sold at the
same time. He said, "There were five of us;
myself and brother and three mules."

In giving all these descriptions of what I saw
during my month of travel in the country around
Tuskegee, I wish my readers to keep in mind the
fact that there were many encouraging exceptions
to the conditions which I have described. I have
stated in such plain words what I saw, mainly for
the reason that later I want to emphasizti the encour-
aging changes that have taken place in the commu-
nity, not wholly by the work of the Tuskegee school,
but bv that of other institutions as well.

CHAPTER VIII

TEACHING SCHOOL IN A STABLE AND A HEN-HOUSE

I CONFESS that what I saw during my month
of travel and investigation left me with a very
heavy heart. The work to be done in order to
lift these people up seemed almost beyond accom-
plishing. I was only one person, and it seemed to
me that the little effort which I could put forth
could go such a short distance toward bringing
about results. I wondered if I could accomplish
anything, and if it were worth while for me to try.

Of one thing I felt more strongly convinced than
ever, after spending this month in seeing the actual
life of the coloured people, and that was that, in
order to lift them up, something must be done
more than merely to imitate New England educa-
tion as it then existed. I saw more clearly than
ever the wisdom of the system which General
Armstrong had inaugurated at Hampton. To take
the children of such people as I had been among
for a month, and each day give them a few hours
of mere book education, I felt would be almost a
waste of time.

TEACHING SCHOOL 119

After consultation with the citizens of Tuskegee,
I set July 4, 1881, as the day for the opening of
the school in the little shanty and church which
had been secured for its accommodation. The
white people, as well as the coloured, were greatly
interested in the starting of the new school, and
the opening day was looked forward to with
much earnest discussion. There were not a few
white people in the vicinity of Tuskegee who
looked with some disfavour upon the project.
They questioned its value to the coloured people,
and had a fear that it might result in bringing
about trouble between the races. Some had the
feeling that in proportion as the Negro received
education, in the same proportion would his value
decrease as an economic factor in the state.
These people feared the result of education would
be that the Negroes would leave the farms,
and that it would be difficult to secure them for
domestic service.

The white people who questioned the wisdom
of starting this new school had in their minds
pictures of what was called an educated Negro, with
a high hat, imitation gold eye-glasses, a showy walk-
ing-stick, kid gloves, fancy boots, and what not —
in a word, a man who was determined to live by
his wits. It was difficult for these people to see

I20 UP FROM SLAVERY

how education would produce any other kind of
a coloured man.

In the midst of all the difficulties which I en-
countered in getting the little school started, and
since then through a period of nineteen years, there
are two men among all the many friends of the
school in Tuskegee upon whom I have depended
constantly for advice and guidance ; and the success
of the undertaking is largely due to these men,
from whom I have never sought anything in vain.
I mention them simply as types. One is a white man
and an ex-slaveholder, Mr. George W. Campbell ;
the other is a black man and an ex-slave, Mr. Lewis
Adams. These were the men who wrote to General
Armstrong for a teacher.

Mr. Campbell is a merchant and banker, and had
had little experience in dealing with matters pertain-
ing to education. Mr. Adams was a mechanic,
and had learned the trades of shoemaking, harness-
making, and tinsmithing during the days of slavery.
He had never been to school a day in his life, but
in some way he had learned to read and write while
a slave. From the first, these two men saw clearly
what my plan of education was, sympathized with
me, and supported me in every effort. In the days
which were darkest financially for the school, Mr.
Campbell was never appealed to when he was not

TEACHING SCHOOL 121

willing to extend all the aid in his power. I do not
know two men, one an ex-slaveholder, one an ex-
slave, whose advice and judgment I would feel
more like following in everything which concerns
the life and development of the school at Tuskegee
than those of these two men.

I have always felt that Mr. Adams, in a large
degree, derived his unusual power of mind from
the training given his hands in the process of
mastering well three trades during the days of
slavery. If one goes to-day into any Southern
town, and asks for the leading and most reliable
coloured man in the community, I believe that in
five cases out of ten he will be directed to a Negro
who learned a trade during the days of slavery.

On the morning that the school opened, thirty
students reported for admission. I was the only
teacher. The students were about equally divided
between the sexes. Most of them lived in Macon
County, the county in which Tuskegee is situated,
and of which it is the county-seat. A great many
more students wanted to enter the school, but it had
been decided to receive only those who were above
fifteen years of age, and who had previously received
some education. The greater part of the thirty
were public-school teachers, and some of them were
nearly forty years of age. With the teachers came

1 2a UP FROM SLAVERY

some of their former pupils, and when they were
examined it was amusing to note that in several cases
the pupil entered a higher class than did his former
teacher. It was also interesting to note how many
big books some of them had studied, and how
many high-sounding subjects some of them claimed
to have mastered. The bigger the book and the
longer the name of the subject, the prouder they
felt of their accomplishment. Some had studied
Latin, and one or two Greek. This they thought
entitled them to special distinction.

In fact, one of the saddest things I saw during
the month of travel which I have described was a
young man, who had attended some high school,
sitting down in a one-room cabin, with grease on
his clothing, filth all around him, and weeds in the
yard and garden, engaged in studying a French
grammar.

The students who came first seemed to be fond
of memorizing long and complicated "rules" in
grammar and mathematics, but had little thought
or knowledge of applying these rules to the every-
day affairs of their life. One subject which they
liked to talk about, and tell me that they had
mastered, in arithmetic, was "banking and dis-
count," but I soon found out that neither they nor
almost any one in the neighbourhood in which they

TEACHING SCHOOL 123

lived had ever had a bank account. In registering
the names of the students, I found that almost every
one of them had one or more middle initials.
When I asked what the " J " stood for, in the
name of John J. Jones, it was explained to me that
this was a part of his "entitles." Most of the
students wanted to get an education because they
thought it would enable them to earn more money
as school-teachers.

Notwithstanding what I have said about them
in these respects, I have never seen a more earnest
and willing company of young men and women than
these students were. They were all willing to learn
the right thing as soon as it was shown them what
was right. I was determined to start them off on
a solid and thorough foundation, so far as their
books were concerned. I soon learned that most
of them had the merest smattering of the high-
sounding things that they had studied. While they
could locate the Desert of Sahara or the capital
of China on an artificial globe, I found out that
the girls could not locate the proper places for the
knives and forks on an actual dinner-table, or the
places on which the bread and meat should be set.

I had to summon a good deal of courage to take
a student who had been studying cube root and
"banking and discount," and explain to him tha^t

124 UP FROM SLAVERY

the wisest thing for him to do first was thoroughly
to master the multiplication table.

The number of pupils increased each week, until
by the end of the first month there were nearly fifty.
Many of them, however, said that, as they could re-
main only for two or three months, they wanted to
enter a high class and get a diploma the first year if
possible.

At the end of the first six weeks a new and rare
face entered the school as a co-teacher. This was
Miss Olivia A. Davidson, who later became my
wife. Miss Davidson was born in Ohio, and re
ceived her preparatory education in the public schools
of that state. When little more than a girl, she
heard of the need of teachers in the South. She
went to the state of Mississippi and began teaching
there. Later she taught in the city of Memphis.
While teaching in Mississippi, one of her pupils be-
came ill with smallpox. Every one in the com-
munity was so frightened that no one would nurse
the boy. Miss Davidson closed her school and re-
mained by the bedside of the boy night and day until
he recovered. While she was at her Ohio home on
her vacation, the worst epidemic of yellow fever broke
out in Memphis, Tenn., that perhaps has ever oc-
curred in the South. When she heard of this, she at
pnce telegraphed the Mayor of Memphis, offering

TEACHING SCHOOL 125

her services as a yellow-fever nurse, although she
had never had the disease.

Miss Davidson's experience in the South showed
her that the people needed something more than
mere book-learning. She heard of the Hampton
system of education, and decided that this was what
she wanted in order to prepare herself for better work
in the South. The attention of Mrs. Mary Hem-
enway, of Boston, was attracted to her rare ability.
Through Mrs. Hemenway's kindness and generosity.
Miss Davidson, after graduating at Hampton, re-
ceived an opportunity to complete a two years'
course of training at the Massachusetts State Nor-
mal School at Framingham.

Before she went to Framingham, some one sug-
gested to Miss Davidson that, since she was so very
light in colour, she might find it more comfortable
not to be known as a coloured woman in this school
in Massachusetts. She at once replied that under
no circumstances and for no considerations would
she consent to deceive any one in regard to her
racial identity.

Soon after her graduation from the Framingham
institution. Miss Davidson came to Tuskegee, bring-
ing into the school many valuable and fresh ideas as
to the best methods of teaching, as well as a rare
moral character and a life of unselfishness that I

126 UP FROM SLAVERY

think has seldom been equalled. No single individ-
ual did more toward laying the foundations of the
Tuskegee Institute so as to insure the successful work
that has been done there than Olivia A. Davidson.

Miss Davidson and I began consulting as to the
future of the school from the first. The students
were making progress in learning books and in de-
veloping their minds; but it became apparent at
once that, if we were to make any permanent impres-
sion upon those who had come to us for training,
we must do something besides teach them mere
books. The students had come from homes where
they had had no opportunities for lessons which
would teach them how to care for their bodies.
With few exceptions, the homes in Tuskegee in
which the students boarded were but little improve-
ment upon those from which they had come. We
wanted to teach the students how to bathe ; how to
care for their teeth and clothing. We wanted to teach
them what to eat, and how to eat it properly, and
how to care for their rooms. Aside from this,
we wanted to give them such a practical knowledge
of some one industry, together with the spirit of in-
dustry, thrift, and economy, that they would be sure
of knowing how to make a living after they had left
us. We wanted to teach them to study actual things
instead of mere books alone.

TEACHING SCHOOL 127

We found that the most of our students came •
from the country districts, where agriculture in some
form or other was the main dependence of the
people. We learned that about eighty-five per cent
of the coloured people in the Gulf states depended
upon agriculture for their living. Since this was
true, we wanted to be careful not to educate our
students out of sympathy with agricultural life, so
that they would be attracted from the country to the
cities, and yield to the temptation of trying to live
by their wits. We wanted to give them such an
education as would fit a large proportion of them
to be teachers, and at the same time cause them to
return to the plantation districts and show the
people there how to put new energy and new ideas
into farming, as well as into the intellectual and
moral and religious life of the people.

All these ideas and needs crowded themselves
upon us with a seriousness that seemed well-nigh
overwhelming. What were we to do ? We had
only the little old shanty and the abandoned church
which the good coloured people of the town of
Tuskegee had kindly loaned us for the accommoda-
tion of the classes. The number of students was
increasing daily. The more we saw of them, and
the more we travelled through the country districts,
the more we saw that our eflForts were reaching, to

128 UP FROM SLAVERY

only a partial degree, the actual needs of the people
whom we wanted to lift up through the medium of
the students whom we should educate and send out
as leaders.

The more we talked with the students, who were
then coming to us from several parts of the state,
the more we found that the chief ambition among
a large proportion of them was to get an education
so that they would not have to work any longer
with their hands.

This is illustrated by a story told of a coloured
man in Alabama, who, one hot day in July, while
he was at work in a cotton-field, suddenly stopped,
and, looking toward the skies, said : " O Lawd, de
cotton am so grassy, de work am so hard, and the
sun am so hot dat I b'lieve dis darky am called
to preach ! "

About three months after the opening of the
school, and at the time when we were in the great-
est anxiety about our work, there came into the
market for sale an old and abandoned plantation
which was situated about a mile from the town of
Tuskegee. The mansion house — or " big house,"
as it would have been called — which had been
occupied by the owners during slavery, had been
burned. After making a careful examination of this

TEACHING SCHOOL 129

place, it seemed to be just the location that we wanted
in order to make our work effective and permanent.

But how were we to get it ? The price asked for
it was very little — only five hundred dollars — but
we had no money, and we were strangers in the
town and had no credit. The owner of the land
agreed to let us occupy the place if we could make a
payment of two hundred and fifty dollars down, with
the understanding that the remaining two hundred and
fifty dollars must be paid within a year. Although
five hundred dollars was cheap for the land, it was a
large sum when one did not have any part of it.

In the midst of the difficulty I summoned a great
deal of courage and wrote to my friend General
J. F. B. Marshall, the Treasurer of the Hampton
Institute, putting the situation before him and be-
seeching him to lend me the two hundred and fifty
dollars on my own personal responsibility. Within
a few days a reply came to the eflfect that he had
no authority to lend me money belonging to the
Hampton Institute, but that he would gladly lend
me the amount needed from his own personal funds.

I confess that the securing of this money in this
way was a great surprise to me, as well as a source
of gratification. Up to that time I never had had
in my possession so much money as one hundred
dollars at a time, and the loan which I had asked

130 UP FROM SLAVERY

General Marshall for seemed a tremendously large
sum to me. The fact of my being responsible for
the repaying of such a large amount of money
weighed very heavily upon me.

I lost no time in getting ready to move the
school on to the new farm. At the time we oc-
cupied the place there were standing upon it a
cabin, formerly used as the dining room, an old
kitchen, a stable, and an old hen-house. Within
a few weeks we had all of these structures in use.
The stable was repaired and used as a recitation-
room, and very presently the hen-house was utilized
for the same purpose.

I recall that one morning, when I told an old
coloured man who lived near, and who sometimes
helped me, that our school had grown so large that
it would be necessary for us to use the hen-house
for school purposes, and that I wanted him to help
me give it a thorough cleaning out the next day, he
replied, in the most earnest manner : " What you
mean, boss ? You sholy ain't gwine clean out de
hen-house in de day-time ? "

Nearly all the work of getting the new location
ready for school purposes was done by the students
after school was over in the afternoon. As soon as
we got the cabins in condition to be used, I deter-
mined to clear up some land so that we could plant

TEACHING SCHOOL 1^31

a crop. When I explained my plan to the young
men, I noticed that they did not seem to take to it
very kindly. It was hard for them to see the con-
nection between clearing land and an education.
Besides, many of them had been school-teachers,
and they questioned whether or not clearing land
would be in keeping with their dignity. In order
to relieve them from any embarrassment, each after-
noon after school I took my axe and led the way to
the woods. When they saw that I was not afraid
or ashamed to work, they began to assist with more
enthusiasm. We kept at the work each afternoon,
until we had cleared about twenty acres and had
planted a crop.

In the meantime Miss Davidson was devising
plans to repay the loan. Her first effort was made
by holding festivals, or "suppers." She made a
personal canvass among the white and coloured
families in the town of Tuskegee, and got them to
agree to give something, like a cake, a chicken,
bread, or pies, that could be sold at the festival.
Of course the coloured people were glad to give any-
thing that they could spare, but I want to add that
Miss Davidson did not apply to a single white
family, so far as I now remember, that failed to
donate something; and in many ways the white
families showed their interest in the school.

132 UP FROM SLAVERY

Several of these festivals were held, and quite a
little sum of money was raised. A canvass was
also made among the people of both races for direct
gifts of money, and most of those applied to gave
small sums. It was often pathetic to note the gifts
of the older coloured people, most of whom had
spent their best days in slavery. Sometimes they
would give five cents, sometimes twenty-five cents.
Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quan-
tity of sugarcane. I recall one old coloured woman,
who was about seventy years of age, who came to
see me when we were raising money to pay for the
farm. She hobbled into the room where I was,
leaning on a cane. She was clad in rags ; but they
were clean. She said : " Mr. Washington, God
knows I spent de bes' days of my life in slavery.
God knows Fs ignorant an' poor ; but," she added,
" I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to
do. I knows you is tryin' to make better men an*
better women for de coloured race. I ain't got no
money, but I wants you to take dese six eggs, what
I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put dese six
eggs into de eddication of dese boys an' gals."

Since the work at Tuskegee started, it has been
my privilege to receive many gifts for the benefiit
of the institution, but never any, I think, that
touched me so deeply as this one.

CHAPTER IX

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

THE coming of Christmas, that first year
of our residence in Alabama, gave us an
opportunity to get a farther insight into
the real life of the people. The first thing that
reminded us that Christmas had arrived was the
" foreday " visits of scores of children rapping at
our doors, asking for " Chris'mus gifts ! Chris'mus
gifts ! '* Between the hours of two o'clock and five
o'clock in the morning I presume that we must
have had a half-hundred such calls. This custom
prevails throughout this portion of the South
to-day.

During the days of slavery it was a custom quite
generally observed throughout all the Southern
states to give the coloured people a week of holiday
at Christmas, or to allow the holiday to continue as
long as the " yule log " lasted. The male members
of the race, and often the female members, were
expected to get drunk. We found that for a whole
week the coloured people in and around Tuskegee

>33

134 UP FROM SLAVERY

dropped work the day before Christmas, and that
it was difficult to get any one to perform any ser-
vice from the time they stopped work until after
the New Year. Persons who at other times did
not use strong drink thought it quite the proper
thing to indulge in it rather freely during the
Christmas week. There was a widespread hilarity,
and a free use of guns, pistols, and gunpowder
generally. The sacredness of the season seemed to
have been almost wholly lost sight of.

During this first Christmas vacation I went some
distance from the town to visit the people on one
of the large plantations. In their poverty and
ignorance it was pathetic to see their attempts to
get joy out of the season that in most parts of the
country is so sacred and so dear to the heart. In
one cabin I noticed that all that the five children
had to remind them of the coming of Christ was a
single bunch of firecrackers, which they had divided
among them. In another cabin, where there were
at least a half-dozen persons, they had only ten
cents' worth of ginger-cakes, which had been bought
in the store the day before. In another family
they had only a few pieces ,of sugarcane. In still
another cabin I found nothing but a new jug of
cheap, mean whiskey, which the husband and wife
were making free use of, notwithstanding the fact

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 135

thu the husband wm one of the local ministers.
In a few instances I found that the people had
gotten hold of some bright-^coloured cards that had
been designed for advertising purposes, and were
making the most of those. In other homes some
member of the family had bought a new pistol. In
the majority of cases there was nothing to be seen
in the cabin to remind one of the coming of the
Saviour, except that the people had ceased work in
the fields and were louhging about their homes.
At night, during Christmas week, they usually had
what they called a ^^ frolic," in some cabin on the
plantation. This -meant a kind of rough dance,
where there was likely to be a good deal of whiskey
used, and where there might be some shooting or
cutting with razors.

While I was making this Christmas visit I met
an old coloured man who was one of the numerous
local preachers, who tried to convince me, from the
experience Adam had in the Garden of Eden, that
God had cursed all labour, and that, therefore, it was
a sin for any man to work. For that reason this
man sought to do as little work as possible. He
seemed at that time to be supremely happy, because
he was living, as he expressed it, through one week
that was free from sin.

In the school we made a special effort to teach

136 UP FROM SLAVERY

our students the meaning of Christmas, and to give
them lessons in its proper observance. In this we
have been successful to a degree that makes me
feel safe in saying that the season now has a new
meaning, not only through all that immediate region,
but, in a measure, wherever our graduates have
gone.

At the present time one of the most satisfactory
features of the Christmas and Thanksgiving seasons
at Tuskegee is the unselfish and beautiful way in
which our graduates and students spend their time
in administering to the comfort and happiness of
others, especially the unfortunate. Not long ago
some of our young men spent a holiday in rebuild-
ing a cabin for a helpless coloured woman who is
about seventy-five years old. At another time I re-
member that I made it known in chapel, one night,
that a very poor student was suffering from cold, be-
cause he needed a coat. The next morning two coats
were sent to my office for him.

I have referred to the disposition on the part of
the white people in the town of Tuskegee and
vicinity to help the school. From the first, I
resolved to make the school a real part of the com-
munity in which it was located. I was determined
that no one should have the feeling that it was a
foreign institution, dropped down in the midst of

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 137

the people, for which they had no responsibility
and in which they had no interest. I noticed that
the very fact that they had been asked to contribute
toward the purchase of the land made them begin
to feel as if it was going to be their school, to a
large degree. I noted that just in proportion as
we made the white people feel that the institution
was a part of the life of the community, and that,
while we wanted to make friends in Boston, for
example, we also wanted to make white friends in
Tuskegee, and that we wanted to make the school
of real service to all the people, their attitude toward
the school became favourable.

Perhaps I might add right here, what I hope to
demonstrate later, that, so far as I know, the Tuske-
gee school at the present time has no warmer and
more enthusiastic friends anywhere than it has
among the white citizens of Tuskegee and through-
out the state of Alabama and the entire South.
From the first, I have advised our people in the
South to make friends in every straightforward,
manly way with their next-door neighbour, whether
he be a black man or a white man. I have also ad-
vised them, where no principle is at stake, to con-
sult the interests of their local communities, and to
advise with their friends in regard to their voting.

For several months the work of securing the

138 UP FROM SLAVERY

money with which to pay for the farm went on with*
out ceasing. At the end of three months enough
was secured to repay the loan of two hundred and
fifty dollars to General Marshall, and within two
months more we had secured the entire five hun-
dred dollars and had received a deed of the one hun-
dred acres of land. This gave us a great deal of
satisfaction. It was not only a source of satisfaction
to secure a permanent location for the school, but
it was equally satisfactory to know that the greater
part of the money with which it was paid for had
been gotten from the white and coloured people in
the town of Tuskegee. The most of this money
was obtained by holding festivals and concerts, and
from small individual donations.

Our next eflFbrt was in the direction of increasing
the cultivation of the land, so as to secure some
return from it, and at the same time give the stu-
dents training in agriculture. All the industries at
Tuskegee have been started in natural and logical
order, growing out of the needs of a community
settlement. We began with farming, because we
wanted something to eat.

Many of the students, also, were able to remain
in school but a few weeks at a time, because they
had so little money with which to pay their board*
Thus another object which made it desirable to get

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 139

Sin industrial system started was in order to make
it available as a means of helping the students to
earn money enough so that they might be able to
remain in school during the nine months* session
of the school yean

The first animal that the school came into pos*^
session of was an old blind horse given us by one
of the white citizens of Tuskcgec. Perhaps I may
add here that at the present time the school owns
over two hundred horses, colts, mules, cows, calves,
dud oxen, and about seven hundred hogs and pigs,
as well as a large number of sheep and goats.

The school was constantly growing in numbers,
so much so that, after we had got the farm paid for,
the cultivation of the land begun, and the old cabins
which we had found on the place somewhat repaired,
we turned our attention toward providing a large,
substantial building. After having given a good
deal of thought to the subject, we finally had the
plans drawn for a building that was estimated to
cost about six thousand dollars. This seemed to us
a tremendous sum, but we knew that the school must
go backward or forward, and that our work would
mean little unless we could get hold of the students
in their home life.

One incident which occurred about this time gave
me a great deal of satisfaction as well as surprise.

140 UP FROM SLAVERY

When it became known in the town that we were
discussing the plans for a new, large building, a
Southern white man who was operating a sawmill
not far from Tuskegee came to me and said that he
would gladly put all the lumber necessary to erect
the building on the grounds, with no other guarantee
for payment than my word that it would be paid
for when we secured some money. I told the man
frankly that at the time we did not have in our
hands one dollar of the money needed. Notwith-
standing this, he insisted on being allowed to put
the lumber on the grounds. After we had secured
some portion of the money we permitted him to do
this.

Miss Davidson again began the work of securing
in various ways small contributions for the new
building from the white and coloured people in and
near Tuskegee. I think I never saw a community
of people so happy over anything as were the col-
oured people over the prospect of this new building.
One day, when we were holding a meeting to secure
funds for its erection, an old, ante-bellum coloured
man came a distance of twelve miles and brought in
his ox-cart a large hog. When the meeting was in
progress, he rose in the midst of the company and
said that he had no money which he could give, but
that he had raised two fine hogs, and that he had

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 141

brought one of them as a contribution toward the
expenses of the building. He closed his announce-
ment by saying : " Any nigger that's got any love
for his race, or any respect for himself, will bring a
hog to the next meeting.'* Quite a number of men
in the community also volunteered to give several
days* work, each, toward the erection of the build-
ing.

After we had secured all the help that we could
in Tuskegee, Miss Davidson decided to go North
for the purpose of securing additional funds. For
weeks she visited individuals and spoke in churches
and before Sunday schools and other organizations.
She found this work quite trying, and often embar-
rassing. The school was not known, but she was
not long in winning her way into the confidence of
the best people in the North.

The first gift from any Northern person was
received from a New York lady whom Miss David-
son met on the boat that was bringing her North.
They fell into a conversation, and the Northern
lady became so' much interested in the effort being
made at Tuskegee that before they parted Miss
Davidson was handed a check for fifty dollars. For
some time before our marriage, and also after it.
Miss Davidson kept up the work of securing money
in the North and in the South by interesting people

142 UP FROM SLAVERY

by personal visits and through correspondence. At
the same time she kept in close touch with the
work at Tuskegee, as lady principal and classroom
teacher. In addition to this, she worked among the
older people in and near Tuskegee, and taught a
Sunday school class in the town. She was never
very strong, but never seemed happy unless she was
giving all of her strength to the cause which she
loved. Often, at night, after spending the day in
going from door to door trying to interest persons
in the work at Tuskegee, she would be so exhausted
that she could not undress herself. A lady upon
whom she called, in Boston, afterward told me that
at one time when Miss Davidson called to see her
and sent up her card the lady was detained a little
before she could see Miss Davidson, and when she
entered the parlour she found Miss Davidson so
exhausted that she had fallen asleep.

While putting up our first building, which was
named Porter Hall, after Mr. A. H. Porter, of
Brooklyn, N.Y., who gave a generous sum toward
its erection, the need for money became acute. I
had given one of our creditors a promise that upon
a certain day he should be paid four hundred dol-
lars. On the morning of that day we did not have
a dollar. The mail arrived at the school at ten
o'clock, and in this mail there was a check sent by

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 143

Miss Davidson for exactly four hundred dollars. I
could relate many instances of almost the same char-
acter. This four hundred dollars was given by two
ladies in Boston. Two years later, when the work
at Tuskegee had grown considerably, and when we
were in the midst of a season when we were so
much in need of money that the future looked
doubtful and gloomy, the same two Boston ladies
sent us six thousand dollars. Words cannot de-
scribe our surprise, or the encouragement that the
gift brought to us. Perhaps I might add here that
for fourteen years these same friends have sent us
six thousand dollars each year.

As soon as the plans were drawn for the new
building, the students began digging out the earth
where the foundations were to be laid, working after
the regular classes were over. They had not fully
outgrown the idea that it was hardly the proper
thing for them to use their hands, since they had
come there, as one of them expressed it, " to be
educated, and not to work." Gradually, though, I
noted with satisfaction that a sentiment in &vour
of work was gaining ground. After a few weeks of
hard work the foundations were ready, and a day
was appointed for the laying of the corner-stone.

When it is considered that the laying of this
corner*stone took place in the heart of the South,

144 UP FROM SLAVERY

in the " Black Belt," in the centre of that part of
our country that was most devoted to slavery ; that
at that time slavery had been abolished only about
sixteen years ; that only sixteen years before that
no Negro could be taught from books without the
teacher receiving the condemnation of the law or of
public sentiment — when all this is considered, the
scene that was witnessed on that spring day at
Tuskegee was a remarkable one. I believe there
are few places in the world where it could have
taken place.

The principal address was delivered by the Hon.
Waddy Thompson, the Superintendent of Educa-
tion for the county. About the corner-stone were
gathered the teachers, the students, their parents and
friends, the county officials — who were white — and
all the leading white men in that vicinity, together
with many of the black men and women whom
these same white people but a few years before had
held a title to as property. The members of both
races were anxious to exercise the privilege of plac-
ing under the corner-stone some memento.
• Before the building was completed we passed
through some very trying seasons. More than
once our hearts were made to bleed, as it were, be-
cause bills were falling due that we did not have the
money to meet. Perhaps no one who has not gone

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 145

through the experience, month after month, of try-
ing to erect buildings and provide equipment for a
school when no one knew where the money was to
come from, can properly appreciate the difficulties
under which we laboured. During the first years at
Tuskegee I recall that night after night I would roll
and toss on my bed, without sleep, because of the
anxiety and uncertainty which we were in regarding
money. I knew that, in a large degree, we were
trying an experiment — that of testing whether or
not it was possible for Negroes to build up and con-
trol the affairs of a large educational institution. I
knew that if we failed it would injure the whole
race. I knew that the presumption was against us.
I knew that in the case of white people beginning
such an enterprise it would be taken for granted that
they were going to succeed, but in our case I felt
that people would be surprised if we succeeded.
All this made a burden which pressed down on
us, sometimes, it seemed, at the rate of a thousand
pounds to the square inch.

In all our difficulties and anxieties, however, I
never went to a white or a black person in the town
of Tuskegee for any assistance that was in their
power to render, ^thout being helped according to
their means. More than a dozen times, when bills
figuring up into the hundreds of dollars were falling

146 UP FROM SLAVERY

due, I applied to the white men of Tuskegee for
smaU loans, often borrowing smaU amounts from as
many as a half-dozen persons, to meet our obliga-
dons* One thing I was determined to do from the
first, and that was to keep the credit of the school
high ; and this, I think I can say without boasting,
we have done all through these years.

I shall always remember a bit of advice given me
by Mn George W. Campbell, the white man to
whom I have referred as the one who induced Gen-*
eral Armstrong to send me to Tuskegee. Soon
after I entered upon the work Mr. Campbell said
to me, in his fatherly way: ** Washington, always
remember that credit is capital."

At one time when we were in the greatest distress
for money that we ever experienced, I placed the
situation frankly before General Armstrong. With-
out hesitation he gave me his personal check for all
the money which he had saved for his own use.
This was not the only time that General Armstrong
helped Tuskegee in this way. I do not think I
have ever made this fact public before.

During the summer of 1 88a, at the end of the
first year's work of the school, I was married to
Miss Fannie N. Smith, of Maiden, W. Va. We
began keeping house in Tuskegee early in the
fall. This made a home for our teachers, who now

ANXIOUS DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS 147

had been increased to four in number. My wife
was also a graduate of the Hampton Institute.
After earnest and constant work in the interests of
the school, together with her housekeeping duties,
my wife passed away in May, 1884. One child,
Portia M. Washington, was born during our
marriage.

From the first, my wife most earnestly devoted
her thoughts and time to the work of the school,
and was completely one with me in every interest
and ambition. She passed away, however, before
she had an opportunity of seeing what the school
was designed to be.

CHAPTER X

A HAADEA TASK THAN MAKING BUCKS WITHOUT

STKAW

FROM the very beginning, at Tuskc^ee, I was
determined to have the students do not only
the agricultural and domestic work, but to
have them erect their own buildings. My plan was
to have them, while performing this service, taught
the latest and best methods of labour, so that the
school would not only get the benefit of their efibrts,
but the students themselves would be taught to see
not only utility in labour, but beauty and dignity ;
would be taught, in fact, how to lift labour up from
mere drudgery and toil, and would learn to love
work for its own sake. My plan was not to teach
them to work in the old way, but to show them how
to make the forces of nature — air, water, steam,
electricity, horse-power — assist them in their labour.
At first many advised against the experiment of
having the buildings erected by the labour of the stu-
dents, but I was determined to stick to it I told
those who doubted the wisdom of the plan that I
knew that our first buildings would not be so com-

148

-«^

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 149

fortable or so complete in their finish as buildings
erected by the experienced hands of outside work-
men, but that in the teaching of civilization, self-
help, and self-reliance, the erection of the buildings
by the students themselves would more than com-
pensate for any lack of comfort or fine finish.

I further told those who doubted the wisdom of
this plan, that the majority of our students came to
us in poverty, from the cabins of the cotton, sugar,
and rice plantations of the South, and that while I
knew it would please the students very much to
place them at once in finely constructed buildings, I
felt that it would be following out a more natural
process of development to teach them how to con-
struct their own buildings. Mistakes I knew would
be made, but these mistakes would teach us valuable
lessons for the future.

During the now nineteen years* existence of the
Tuskegee school, the plan of having the buildings
erected by student labour has been adhered to. In
this time forty buildings, counting small and large,
have been built, and all except four are almost
wholly the product of student labour. As an addi-
tional result, hundreds of men are now scattered
throughout the South who received their knowl-
edge of mechanics while being taught how to erect
these buildings. Skill and knowledge are now

ISO UP FROM SLAVERY

handed down from one ftet of students to another
in this way, until at the present time a building of
any description or si2e can be constructed wholly by
our instructors and students, from the drawing of
the plans to the putting in of the electric fixtures,
without going off the grounds for a single work<-
man.

Not a few times, when a new student has been
led into the temptation of rharring the looks of
some building by leadpencil marks or by the cuts
of a jack-knife, I have heard an old student remind
him : " Don't do that. That is our building. I
helped put it up/'

In the early days of the school I think my most
trying experience was in the matter of brickmaking.
As soon as we got the farm work reasonably well
started, we directed our next efforts toward the
industry of making bricks. We needed these for
use in connection with the erection of our own
buildings ; but there was also another reason for es^
tablishing this industry. There was no brickyard
in the town, and in addition to our own needs there
was a demand for bricks in the general market

I had always sympathized with the "Children
of Israel," in their task of " making bricks without
straw," but ours was the task of making bricks with
no money and no experience*

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 151

In the first place, the work was hard and dirty,
and it was difficult to get the students to help.
When it came to brickmaking, their distaste for
manual labour in connection with book education
became especially manifest. It was not a pleasant
task for one to stand in the mud-pit for hours, with
the mud up to his knees. More than one man
became disgusted and left the school.

Wc tried several locations before we opened up
a pit that furnished brick clay. I had always
supposed that brickmaking was very simple, but
I soon found out by bitter experience that it re-
quired special skill and knowledge, particularly in
the burning of the bricks. After a good deal of
effort we moulded about twenty-five thousand bricks,
and put them into a kiln to be burned. This kiln
turned out to be a failure, because it was not prop-
erly constructed or properly burned. We began
at once, however, on a second kiln. This, for
some reason, also proved a failure. The failure
of this kiln made it still more diflicult to get the
students to take any part in the work. Several
of the teachers, however, who had been trained in
the industries at Hampton, volunteered their ser-
vices, and in some way we succeeded in getting a
third kiln ready for burning. The burning of a
kiln required about a week. Toward the latter

152 UP FROM SLAVERY

part of the week, when it seemed as if we were
going to have a good many thousand bricks in a
few hours, in the middle of the night the kiln fell.
For the third time we had failed.

The failure of this last kiln left me without a
single dollar with which to make another experi-
ment. Most of the teachers advised the abandon-
ing of the effort to make bricks. In the midst
of my troubles I thought of a watch which had
come into my possession years before. I took this
watch to the city of Montgomery, which was not
far distant, and placed it in a pawn-shop. I secured
cash upon it to the amount of fifteen dollars, with
which to renew the brickmaking experiment. I
returned to Tuskegee, and, with the help of the
fifteen dollars, rallied our rather demoralized and
discouraged forces and began a fourth attempt to
make bricks. This time, I am glad to say, we
were successful. Before I got hold of any money,
the time-limit on my watch had expired, and I have
never seen it since ; but I have never regretted the
loss of it.

Brickmaking has now become such an important
industry at the school that last season our students
manufactured twelve hundred thousand of first-class
bricks, of a quality suitable to be sold in any mar-
ket. Aside from this, scores of young men have

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 153

mastered the brickmaking trade — both the making
of bricks by hand and by machinery — and are
now engaged in this industry in many parts of the
South.

The making of these bricks taught me an im-
portant lesson in regard to the relations of the two
races in the South. Many white people who had
had no contact with the school, and perhaps no
sympathy with it, came to us to buy bricks because
they found out that ours were good bricks. They
discovered that we were supplying a real want in
the community. The making of these bricks caused
many of the white residents of the neighbourhood
to begin to feel that the education of the Negro was
not making him worthless, but that in educating
our students we were adding something to the
wealth and comfort of the community. As the
people of the neighbourhood came to us to buy
bricks, we got acquainted with them ; they traded
with us and we with them. Our business interests
became intermingled. We had something which
they wanted ; they had something which we wanted.
This, in a large measure, helped to lay the founda-
tion for the pleasant relations that have continued
to exist between us and the white people in that
section, and which now extend throughout the
South.

154 UP FROM SLAVERY

Wherever one of our brickmakers has gone in
the South, we find that he has something to contrib-
ute to the well-being of the community into which
he has gone; something that has made the com-
munity feel that, in a degree, it is indebted to him,
and perhaps, to a certain extent, dependent upon
him. In this way pleasant relations between the
races have been stimulated.

My experience is that there is something in
human nature which always makes an individual
recognize and reward merit, no matter under what
colour of skin merit is found. I have found, too,
that it is the visible, the tangible, that goes a long
ways In softening prejudices. The actual sight of a
first-class house that a Negro has built is ten times
more potent than pages of discussion about a house
that he ought to build, or perhaps could build.

The same principle of industrial education has
been carried out in the building of our own wagons,
carts, and buggies, from the first. We now own
and use on our farm and about the school dozens
of these vehicles, and every one of them has been
built by the hands of the students. Aside from
this, we help supply the local market with the^e
vehicles. The supplying of them to the people in
the community has had the same effect as the sup-
plying of bricks, and the man who learns at Tuske-

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 155

gee to build and repair wagons and carts is regarded
as a benefactor by both races in the community
where he goes. The people with whom he lives
and works are going to think twice before they part
with such a man.

The individual who can do something that the
world wants done will, in the end, make his way
regardless of his race. One man may go into a
community prepared to supply the people there
with an analysis of Greek sentences. The com-
munity may not at that time be prepared for, or
feel the need of, Greek analysis, but it may feel its
need of bricks and houses and wagons. If the man
can supply the need for those, then, it will lead
eventually to a demand for the first product, and
with the demand will come the ability to appreciate
it and to profit by it.

About the time that we succeeded in burning our
first kiln of bricks we began facing in an empha-
sized form the objection of the students to being
taught to work. By this time it had gotten to be
pretty well advertised throughout the state that
every student who came to Tuskegee, no matter
what his financial ability might be, must learn some
industry. Quite a number of letters came from
parents protesting against their children enga^ng
in labour while they were in the school. Other

156 UP FROM SLAVERY

parents came to the school to protest in person.
Most of the new students brought a written or a
verbal request from their parents to the effect that
they wanted their children taught nothing but
books. The more books, the larger they were, and
the longer the titles printed upon them, the better
pleased the students and theiv parents seemed to be.

I gave little heed to these protests, except that I
lost no opportunity to go into as many parts of the
state as I could, for the purpose of speaking to the
parents, and showing them the value of industrial
education. Besides, I talked to the students con-
stantly on the subject. Notwithstanding the un-
popularity of industrial work, the school continued
to increase in numbers to such an extent that by
the middle of the second year there was an attend-
ance of about one hundred and fifty, representing
almost all parts of the state of Alabama, and includ-
ing a few from other states.

In the summer of 1882 Miss Davidson and I
both went North and engaged in the work of rais-
ing funds for the completion of our new building.
On my way North I stopped in New York to try
to get a letter of recommendation from an officer of
a missionary organization who had become some-
what acquainted with me a few years previous.
This man not only refused to give me the letter,

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 157

but advised me most earnestly to go back home at
once, and not make an attempt to get money, for
he was quite sure that I would never get more than
enough to pay my travelling expenses. I thanked
him for his advice, and proceeded on my journey.

The first place I went to In the North, was North-
ampton, Mass., where I spent nearly a half-day in
looking for a coloured family with whom I could
board, never dreaming that any hotel would admit me.
I was greatly surprised when I found that I would
have no trouble in being accommodated at a hotel.

We were successful in getting money enough so
that on Thanksgiving Day of that year we held our
first service in the chapel of Porter Hall, although
the building was not completed.

In looking about for some one to preach the
Thanksgiving sermon, I found one of the rarest
men that it has ever been my privilege to know.
This was the Rev. Robert C. Bedford, a white man
from Wisconsin, who was then pastor of a little col-
oured Congregational church in Montgomery, Ala.
Before going to Montgomery to look for some one
to preach this sermon I had never heard of Mr.
Bedford. He had never heard of me. He gladly
consented to come to Tuskegee and hold the
Thanksgiving service. It was the first service of
the kind that the coloured people there had ever

158 UP FROM SLAVERY

observied, and what a deep interest they manifested
in it ! The sight of the new building made it a day
of Thanksgiving for them never to be forgotten.

Mr. Bedford consented to become one of the
trustees of the school, and in that capacity, and as a
worker for it, he has been connected with it for
eighteen years. During this time he has borne the
school upon his heart night and day, and is never
so happy as when he is performing some service, no
matter how humble, for it. He completely obliter-
ates himself in everything, and looks only for per-
mission to serve where service is most disagreeable,
and where others would not be attracted. In all my
relations with him he has seemed to me to approach
as nearly to the spirit of the Master as almost any
man I ever met.

A little later there came into the service of the
school another man, quite young at the time, and
fresh from Hampton, without whose service the
school never could have become what it is. This
was Mr. Warren Logan, who now for seventeen
years has been the treasurer of the Institute, and
the acting principal during my absence. He has
always shown a degree of unselfishness and an
amount of business tact, coupled with a clear judg-
ment, that has kept the school in good condition no
matter how long I have been absent from it. Dur-

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 159

ing all the financial stress through which the school
has passed, his patience and faith in our ultimate
success have not left him.

As soon as our first building was near enough to
completion so that we could occupy a portion of it
— which was near the middle of the second year of
the school — we opened a boarding department.
Students had begun coming from quite a distance,
and in such increasing numbers that we felt more
and more that we were merely skimming over the
surface, in that we were not getting hold of the stu-
dents in their home life.

We had nothing but the students and their appe-
tites with which to bfegin a boarding department.
No provision had been made in the new building
for a kitchen and dining room ; but we discovered
that by digging out a large amount of earth from
under the building we could make a partially
lighted basement room that could be used for a
kitchen and dining room. Again I called on the
students to volunteer for work, this time to assist in
digging out the basement. This they did, and in a
few weeks we had a place to cook and eat in, although
it was very rough and uncomfortable. Any one see-
ing the place now would never believe that it was
once used for a dining room.

The most serious problem, though, was to get

i6o UP FROM SLAVERY

the boarding department started off in running
order, with nothing to do with in the way of fur-
niture, and with no money with which to buy
anything. The merchants in the town would let
us have what food we wanted on credit. In fact,
in those earlier years I was constantly embarrassed
because people seemed to have more faith in me
than I had in myself. It was pretty hard to cook,
however, without stoves, and awkward to eat with-
out dishes. At first the cooking was done out-of-
doors, in the old-fashioned, primitive style, in pots
and skillets placed over a fire. Some of the carpen-
ters' benches that had been used in the construction
of the building were utilized for tables. As for
dishes, there were too few to make it worth while
to spend time in describing them.

No one connected with the boarding department
seemed to have any idea that meals must be served
at certain fixed and regular hours, and this was a
source of great worry. Everything was so out of
joint and so inconvenient that I feel safe in saying
that for the first two weeks something was wrong at
every meal. Either the meat was not done or had
been burnt, or the salt had been left out of the
bread, or the tea had been forgotten.

Early one morning I was standing near the
dining-room door listening to the complaints of

MAKING BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW i6i

the students. The complaints that morning were
especially emphatic and numerous, because the whole
breakfast had been a failure. One of the girls who
had failed to get any breakfast came out and went
to the well to draw some water to drink to take the
place of the breakfast which she had not been able
to get. When she reached the well, she found that
the rope was broken and that she could get no water.
She turned from the well and said, in the most dis-
couraged tone, not knowing that I was where I
could hear her, " We can't even get water to drink
at this school.'' I think no one remark ever came
so near discouraging me as that one.

At another time, when Mr. Bedford — whom I
have already spoken of as one of our trustees, and
a devoted friend of the institution — was visiting
the school, he was given a bedroom immediately
over the dining room. Early in the morning he
was awakened by a rather animated discussion be-
tween two boys in the dining room below. The
discussion was over the question as to whose turn
it was to use the coffee-cup that morning. One
boy won the case by proving that for three morn-
ings he had not had an opportunity to use the cup
at all.

But gradually, by patience and hard work, we
brought order out of chaos, just as will be true of

i62 UP FROM SLAVERY

any problem if we stick to it with patience and
wisdom and earnest effort.

As I look back now over that part of our struggle,
I am glad that we had it. I am glad that we
endured all those discomforts and inconveniences.
I am glad that our students had to dig out the place
for their kitchen and dining room. I am glad that
our first boarding-place was in that dismal, ill-lighted,
and damp basement. Had we started in a fine,
attractive, convenient room, I fear we would have
"lost our heads" and become "stuck up.'* It
means a great deal, I think, to start off on a founda-
tion which one has made for one's self.

When our old students return to Tuskegee now,
as they often do, and go into our large, beautiful,
well-ventilated, and well-lighted dining room, and
see tempting, well-cooked food — largely grown by
the students themselves — and see tables, neat
tablecloths and napkins, and vases of flowers
upon the tables, and hear singing birds, and note
that each meal is served exactly upon the minute,
with no disorder, and with almost no complaint
coming from the hundreds that now fill our dining
room, they, too, often say to me that they are glad
that we started as we did, and built ourselves up
year by year, by a slow and natural process of
growth.

CHAPTER XI

MAKING THEIR BEDS BEFORE THEY COULD LIE ON

THEM

A LITTLE later in the history of the school
we had a visit from General J. F. B. Mar-
shall, the Treasurer of the Hampton Insti-
tute, who had had faith enough to lend us the first
two hundred and fifty dollars with which to make
a payment down on the farm. He remained with
us a week, and made a careful inspection of every-
thing. He seemed well pleased with our progress,
and wrote back interesting and encouraging reports
to Hampton. A little later Miss Mary F. Mackie,
the teacher who had given me the " sweeping " ex-
amination when I entered Hampton, came to see us,
and still later General Armstrong himself came.

At the time of the visits of these Hampton friends
the number of teachers at Tuskegee had increased
considerably, and the most of the new teachers were
graduates of the Hampton Institute. We gave our
Hampton friends, especially General Armstrong, a

cordial welcome. They were all surprised and pleased

163

i64 UP FROM SLAVERY

at the rapid progress that the school had made
within so short a time. The coloured people from
miles around came to the school to get a look at
General Armstrong, about whom they had heard so
much. The General was not only welcomed by
the members of my own race, but by the Southern
white people as well.

This first visit which General Armstrong made
to Tuskegee gave me an opportunity to get an
insight into his character such as I had not before
had. I refer to his interest in the Southern white
people. Before this I had had the thought that
General Armstrong, having fought the Southern
white man, rather cherished a feeling of bitterness
toward the white South, and was interested in help-
ing only the coloured man there. But this visit con-
vinced me that I did not know the greatness and the
generosity of the man. I soon learned, by his visits
to the Southern white people, and from his conver-
sations with them, that he was as anxious about the
prosperity and the happiness of the white race as
the black. He cherished no bitterness against the
South, and was happy when an opportunity offered
for manifesting his sympathy. In all my acquaint-
ance with General Armstrong I never heard him
speak, in public or in private, a single bitter word
against the white man in the South. From his

SAMUEL CHAPMAN ARMSTRONG

MAKING THEIR BEDS 165

example in this respect I learned the lesson that
great men cultivate love, and that only little men
cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance
given to the weak makes the one who gives it
strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate
makes one weak.

It is now long ago that I learned this lesson from ^
General Armstrong, and resolved that I would per-
mit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to
narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate
him. With God's help, I believe that I have com-
pletely rid myself of any ill feeling toward the
Southern white man for any wrong that he may
have inflicted upon my race. I am made to feel
just as happy now when I am rendering service to
Southern white men as when the service is rendered
to a member of my own race. I pity from the
bottom of my heart any individual who is so unfor-
tunate as to get into the habit of holding race prej-
udice.

The more I consider the subject, the more
strongly I am convinced that the most harmful
eflfect of the practice to which the people in certain
sections of the South have felt themselves com-
pelled to resort, in order to get rid of the force of
the Negroes' ballot, is not wholly in the wrong done
to the Negro, but in the permanent injury to the

1 66 UP FROM SLAVERY

morals of the white man. The wrong to the Negro
is temporary, but to the morals of the white man
the injury is permanent. I have noted time and
time again that when an individual peijures him-
self in order to break the force of the black man's
ballot, he soon learns to practise dishonesty in other
relations of life, not only where the Negro is con-
cerned, but equally so where a white man is con-
cerned. The white man who begins by cheating a
Negro usually ends by cheating a white man. The
white man who begins to break the law by lynch-
ing a Negro soon yields to the temptation to lynch
a white man. All this, it seems to me, makes it im-
portant that the whole Nation lend a hand in trying
to lift the burden of ignorance from the South.

Another thing that is becoming more apparent
each year in the development of education in the
South is the influence of General Armstrong's idea
of education ; and this not upon the blacks alone,
but upon the whites also. At the present time
there is almost no Southern state that is not put-
ting forth efforts in the direction of securing indus^
trial education for its white boys and girls, and in
most cases it is easy to trace the history of these
efforts back to General Armstrong.

Soon after the opening of our humble boarding
department students began coming to us in still

MAKING THEIR BEDS 167

laufger numbers. For weeks we not only had to
contend with the difficulty of providing board, with
no money, but also with that of providing sleeping
accommodations. For this purpose we rented a
number of cabins near the school. These cabins
were in a dilapidated condition, and during the
winter months the students who occupied them
necessarily suffered from the cold. We chat^d
the students eight dollars a month — all they were
able to pay — for their board. This included,
besides board, room, fuel, and washing. We also
gave the students credit on their board bills for all
the work which they did for the school which was
of any value to the institution. The cost of tui-
tion, which was fifty dollars a year for each student,
we had to secure then, as now, wherever we could.

This small charge in cash gave us no capital
with which to start a boarding department. The
weather during the second winter of our work was
very cold. We were not able to provide enough
bed-clothes to keep the students warm. In fact,
for some time we were not able to provide, except
in a few cases, bedsteads and mattresses of any
kind. During the coldest nights I was so troubled
about the discomfort of the students that I could
not sleep myself. I recall that on several occasions
X went in the middle of the night to the shanties

1 68 UP FROM SLAVERY

occupied by the young men, for the purpose of
comforting them. Often I found some of them
sitting huddled around a fire, with the one blanket
which we had been able to provide wrapped around
them, trying in this way to keep warm. During
the whole night some of them did not attempt to lie
down. One morning, when the night previous had
been unusually cold, I asked those of the students
in the chapel who thought that they had been
frostbitten during the night to raise their hands.
Three hands went up. Notwithstanding these
experiences, there was almost no complaining on
the part of the students. They knew that we were
doing the best that we could for them. They
were happy in the privilege of being permitted to
enjoy any kind of opportunity that would enable
them to improve their condition. They were con-
stantly asking what they might do to lighten the
burdens of the teachers.

I have heard it stated more than once, both in
the North and in the South, that coloured people
would not obey and respect each other when one
member of the race is placed in a position of
authority over others. In regard to this general
belief and these statements, I can say that during
the nineteen years of my experience at Tuskcgce I
never, either by word or act, have been treated

MAKING THEIR BEDS 169

with disrespect by any student or officer connected
with the institution. On the other hand, I am
constantly embarrassed by the many acts of
thoughtful kindness. The students do not seem to
want to see me carry a large book or a satchel or
any kind of a burden through the grounds. In
such cases more than one always offers to relieve
me. I almost never go out of my office when the
rain is filing that some student does not come to
my side with an umbrella and ask to be allowed to
hold it over me.

While writing upon this subject, it is a pleasure
for me to add that in all my contact with the
white people of the South I have never received a
single personal insult. The white people in and
near Tuskegee, to an especial degree, seem to count
it a privilege to show me all the respect within their
power, and often go out of their way to do this.

Not very long ago I was making a journey
between Dallas (Texas) and Houston. In some
way it became known in advance that I was on the
train. At nearly every station at which the train
stopped, numbers of white people, including in most
cases the officials of the town, came aboard and
introduced themselves and thanked me heartily for
the work that I was trying to do for the South.

On another occasion, when I was making a trip

170 UP FROM SLAVERY

from Augusta, GJcorgia, to Atlanta, being rather
tired from much travel, I rode in a Pullman sleeper.
When I went into the car, I found there two ladies
from Bo$ton whom I knew well« These good ladies
were perfectly ignorant, it seems, of the customs of
the South, and in the goodness of their hearts
insisted that I take a seat with them in their sec-
tion. After some hesitation I consented. I had
been there but a few minutes when one of them,
without my knowledge, ordered supper to be served
to the three of us. This embarrassed me still
further. The car was full of Southern white men,
most of whom had their eyes on our party. When
1 found that supper had been ordered, I tried to
contrive some excuse that would permit me to leave
the section, but the ladies insisted that I must eat
with them. I finally settled back in my scat with a
sigh, and said to myself, " I am in for it now,
sure."

To add further to the embarrassment of the situ-
ation, soon after the supper was placed on the table
one of the ladies remembered that she had in her
satchel a special kind of tea which she wished
served, and as she said she felt quite sure the porter
did not know how to brew it properly, she insisted
upon getting up and preparing and serving it her-
telf. At last the meal was over ; and it seemed the

MAKING THEIR BEDS 171

longest one that I had ever eaten. When we were
through, I decided to get myself out of the embar-
rassing situation and go into the smoking-room,
where most of the men were by that time, to see
how the land lay. In the meantime, however, it
had become known in some way throughout the ear
who I was. When I went into the smoking-room
I was never more surprised in my life than when
each man, nearly every one of them a citizen of
Georgia, came up and introduced himself to me and
thanked me earnestly for the work that I was trying
to do for the whole South. This was not flattery,
because each one of these individuals knew that he
had nothing to gain by trying to flatter me.

From the first I have sought to impress the stu-*
dents with the idea that Tuskegee is not my insti-
tution, or that of the officers, but that it is their
institution, and that they have as much interest in
it as any of the trustees or instructors. I have
further sought to have them feel that I am at the
institution as their friend and adviser, and not as
their overseer. It has been my aim to have them
speak with directness and frankness about anything
that concerns the life of the school. Two or three
times a year I ask the students to write me a letter
criticising or making complaints or suggestions about
anything connected with the institution. When

172 UP FROM SLAVERY .

this is not done, I have them meet me in the chapel
for a heart-to-heart taljc about the conduct of the
school. There are no meetings with our students
that I enjoy more than these, and none are more
helpful to me in planning for the future. These
meetings, it seems to me, enable me to get at the
very heart of all that concerns the school. Few
things help an individual more than to place respon-
sibility upon him, and to let him know that you
trust him. When I have read of labour troubles
between employers and employees, I have often
thought that many strikes and similar disturbances
might be avoided if the employers would cultivate
the habit of getting nearer to their employees, of
consulting and advising with them, and letting them
feel that the interests of the two are the same.
Every individual responds to confidence, and this
is not more true of any race than of the Negroes.
Let them once understand that you are unselfishly
interested in them, and you can lead them to any
extent.

It was my aim from the first at Tuskegee to not
only have the buildings erected by the students
themselves, but to have them make their own fur-
niture as far as was possible. I now marvel at the
patience of the students while sleeping upon the
floor while waiting for some kind of a bedstead to

MAKING THEIR BEDS 173

be constructed, or at their sleeping without any kind
of a mattress while waiting for something that looked
like a mattress to be made.

In the early days we had very few students who
had been used to handling carpenters' tools, and
the bedsteads made by the students then were very
rough and very weak. Not unfrequently when I
went into the students' rooms in the morning I
would find at least two bedsteads lying about on
the floor. The problem of providing mattresses
was a difficult one to solve. We finally mastered
this, however, by getting some cheap cloth and
sewing pieces of this together so as to make large
bags. These bags we filled with the pine straw —
or, as it is sometimes called, pine needles — which
we secured from the forests near by. I am glad to
3ay that the industry of mattress-making has grown
steadily since then, and has been improved to such
an extent that at the present time it is an important
branch of the work which is taught systematically
to a number of our girls, and that the mattresses
that now come out of the mattress-shop at Tuske-
gee are about as good as those bought in the aver-
age store. For some time after the opening of the
boarding department we had no chairs in the stu-
dents' bedrooms or in the dining rooms. Instead
of chairs we used stools which the students con^

174 UP FROM SLAVERY

structed by nailing together three pieces of rough
board. As a rule, the fiirniture in the students'
rooms during the early days of the school consisted
of a bed, some stools, and sometimes a rough table
made by the students. The plan of having the
students make the furniture is still followed, but the
number of pieces in a room has been increased, and
the workmanship has so improved that little fault
can be found with the articles now. One thing that
I have always insisted upon at Tuskegee is that
everywhere there should be absolute cleanliness.
Over and over again the students were reminded in
those first years — and are reminded now — that
people would excuse us for our poverty, for our lack
of comforts and conveniences, but that they would
not excuse us for dirt.

Another thing that has been insisted upon at the
school is the use of the tooth-brush. " The gospel
of the tooth-brush,'* as General Armstrong used to
call it, is a part of our creed at Tuskegee. No stu-
dent is permitted to remain who does not keep and
use a tooth-brush. Several times, in recent yeans,
students have come to us who brought with them
almost no other article except a tooth-brush. They
had heard from the lips of older students about our
insisting upon the use of this, and so, to make a
good impression, they brought at least a tooth-

MAKING THEIR BEDS 175

brash with them. I remember that one morning,
not long ago, I went with the lady principal on her
usual morning tour of inspection of the girls' rooms.
We found one room that contained three girls' who
had recently arrived at the school. When I asked
them if they had tooth-brushes, one of the girls
replied, pointing to a brush: "Yes, sir. That is
our brush. We bought it together, yesterday/* It
did not take them long to learn a diiierent lesson.

It has been interesting to note the effect that the
use of the tooth-brush has had in bringing about
a higher degree of civilization among the students.
With few exceptions, I have noticed that, if we can
get a student to the point where, when the first ox
second tooth-brush disappears, he of his own motion
buys another, I have not been disappointed in the
future of that individual. Absolute cleanliness of
the body has been insisted upon from the first. The
students have been taught to bathe as regularly as
to take their meals. This lesson we began teaching
before we had anything in the shape of a bath-house.
Most of the students came from plantation districts,
and often we had to teach them how to sleep at
night y that is, whether between the two sheets —
after we got to the point where we could provide
them two sheets — or under both of them. Natu-
rally I found it difficult to teach them to sleep

176 UP FROM SLAVERY

between two sheets when we were able to supply
but one. The importance of the use of the night-
gown received the same attention.

For a long time one of the most difficult tasks
was to teach the students that all the buttons were
to be kept on their clothes, and that there must be
no torn places and no grease-spots. This lesson, I
am pleased to be able to say, has been so thoroughly
learned and so faithfully handed down from year to
year by one set of students to another that often at
the present time, when the students march out of
chapel in the evening and their dress is inspected,
us it is every night, not one button is to be found
missing.

CHAPTER XII

RAISING MONEY

WHEN we opened our boarding depart-
ment, we provided rooms in the attic of
Porter Hall, our first building, for a
number of girls. But the number of students, of
both sexes, continued to increase. We could find
rooms outside the school grounds for many of the
young men, but the girls we did not care to expose
in this way. Very soon the problem of providing
more rooms for the girls, as well as a larger board-
ing department for all the students, grew serious.
As a result, we finally decided to undertake the
construction of a still larger building — a building
that would contain rooms for the girls and boarding
accommodations for all.

After having had a preliminary sketch of the
needed building made, we found that it would cost
about ten thousand dollars. We had no money
whatever with which to begin ; still we decided to
give the needed building a name. We knew we

could name it, even though we were in doubt about

177

178 UP FROM SLAVERY

our ability to secure the means for its construction.
We decided to call the proposed building Alabama
Hall, in honour of the state in which we were labour-
ing. Again Miss Davidson began making efforts
to enlist the interest and help of the coloured and
white people in and near Tuskegee. They re-
sponded willingly, in proportion to their means.
The students^ as in the case of our first building,
Porter Hall, began digging out the dirt in order to
allow of the laying of the foundations.

When we seemed at the end of our resources^ so
far as securing money was concerned, something
occurred which showed the greatness of General
Armstrong — something which proved how far he
was above the ordinary individual. When we were
in the midst of great anxiety as to where and how
we were to get funds for the new building, I received
a telegram from General Armstrong asking me if I
could spend a month travelling with him through
the North, and asking me, if I could do so, to
come to Hampton at once. Of Course I accepted
General Armstrong's invitation, and went to Hamp-
ton immediately. On arriving there I found that
the General had decided to take a quartette of
singers through the North, and hold meetings for
a month in important cities, at which meetings he
and I were to speak. Imagine my surprise when

RAISING MONEY 179

the General told me, further, that these meetings
were to be held, not in the interests of Hampton,
but in the interests of Tuskegee, and that the
Hampton Institute was to be responsible for all
the expenses.

Although he never told me so in so many
words, I found out that General Armstrong took
this method of introducing me to the people of the
North, as well as for the sake of securing some
immediate funds to be used in the erection of Ala-
bama Hall. A weak and narrow man would have
reasoned that all the money which came to Tuske-
gee in this way would be just so much taken from
the Hampton Institute; but none of these selfish
or short-sighted feelings ever entered the breast of
General Armstrong. He was too big to be little,
too good to be mean. He knew that the people
in the North who gave money gave it for the pur-
pose of helping the whole cause of Negro civiliza-
tion, and not merely for the advancement of any
one school. The General knew, too, that the way
to strengthen Hampton was to make it a centre of
unselfish power in the working out of the whole
Southern problem.

In regard to the addresses which I was to makt
in the North, I recall just one piece of advice which
the General gave me. He said: '^Give them an

i8o UP FROM SLAVERY

idea for every word/' I think it would be hard to
improve upon this advice; and it might be made
to apply to all public speaking. From that time to
the present I have always tried to keep his advice
in mind.

Meetings were held in New York, Brooklyn,
Boston, Philadelphia, and other large cities, and at
all of these meetings General Armstrong pleaded,
together with myself, for help, not for Hampton,
but for Tuskegee. At these meetings an especial
effort was made to secure help for the building of
Alabama Hall, as well as to introduce the school
to the attention of the general public. In both
these respects the meetings proved successful.

After that kindly introduction I began going
North alone to secure funds. During the last fif-
teen years I have been compelled to spend a large
proportion of my time away from the school, in an
effort to secure money to provide for the growing
needs of the institution. In my efforts to get funds
I have had some experiences that may be of interest
to my readers. Time and time again I have been
asked, by people who are trying to secure money
for philanthropic purposes, what rule or rules I fol-
lowed to secure the interest and help of people who
were able to contribute money to worthy objects.
As f9x as the science of what is called begging can

RAISING MONEY i8i

be reduced to rules^ I would say that I have had
but two rules. First, always to do my whole duty
regarding making our work known to individuals
and organizations ; and, second, not to worry about
the results. This second rule has been the hardest
for me to live up to. When bills are on the eve of
falling due, with not a dollar in hand with which to
meet them, it is pretty difficult to learn not to
worry, although I think I am learning more and
more each year that all worry simply consumes, and
to no purpose, just so much physical and mental
strength that might otherwise be given to effective
work. After considerable experience in coming
into contact with wealthy and noted men, I have
observed that those who have accomplished the
greatest results are those who "keep under the
body " ; are those who never grow excited or lose
self-control, but are always calm, self-possessed,
patient, and polite. I think that President Will-
iam McKinley is the best example of a man of this
class that I have ever seen.

In order to be successful in any kind of under-
taking, I think the main thing is for one to grow to
the point where he completely forgets himself; that
is, to lose himself in a great cause. In proportion
as one loses himself in this way, in the same degree
does he get the highest happiness out of his work.

182 UP FROM SLAVERY

My experience in getting money for Tuskegee
has taught me to have no patience with those peo*
p\e who are always condemning the rich because
they are rich, and because they do not give more
to objects of charity. In the first place, those who
are guilty of such sweeping criticisms do not know
how many people would be made poor, and how
much suffering would result, if wealthy people were
to part all at once with any large proportion of
their wealth in a way to disorganize and cripple
great business enterprises. Then very few persons
have any idea of the large number of applications
for help that rich people are constantly being flooded
with. I know wealthy people who receive as many
as twenty calls a day for help. More than once,
when I have gone into the offices of rich men, I
have found half a dozen persons waiting to see
them, and all come for the same purpose, that of
securing money. And all these calls in person, to
say nothing of the applications received through
the mails. Very few people have any idea of the
amount of money given away by persons who
never permit their names to be known. I have
often heard persons condemned for not giving
away money, who, to my own knowledge, were
giving away thousands of dollars every year so
quietly that the world knew nothing about it

RAISING MONEY 183

As an example of this, there are two ladies in
New York, whose names rarely appear in print, but
who, in a quiet way, have given us the means with
which to erect three large and important buildings
during the last eight years. Besides the gift of
these buildings, they have made other generous
donations to the school. And they not only help
Tuskegee, but they are constantly seeking oppor-
tunities to help other worthy causes.

Although it has been my privilege to be the
medium through which a good many hundred
thousand dollars have been received for the work
at Tuskegee, I have always avoided what the world
calls "begging." I often tell people that I have
never " begged " any money, and that I am not a
"beggar." My experience and observation have
convinced me that persistent asking outright for
money from the rich does not, as a rule, secure
help. I have usually proceeded on the principle
that persons who possess sense enough to earn
money have sense enough to know how to give it
away, and that the mere making known of the facts
regarding Tuskegee, and especially the facts regard-
ing the work of the graduates, has been more effec-
tive than outright begging. I think that the
presentation of facts, on a high, dignified plane, is
all the begging that most rich people care for.

i84 UP FROM SLAVERY

While the work of going from door to door and
from office to office is hard, disagreeable, and costly
in bodily strength, yet it has some compensations.
Such work gives one a rare opportunity to study
human nature. It also has its compensations in
giving one an opportunity to meet some of the
best people in the world — to be more correct, I
think I should say the best people in the world.
When one takes a broad survey of the country, he
will find that the most useful and influential people
in it are those who take the deepest interest in insti-
tutions that exist for the purpose of making the
world better.

At one time, when I was in Boston, I called at
the door of a rather wealthy lady, and was admitted
to the vestibule and sent up my card. While I
was waiting for an answer, her husband came in,
and asked me in the most abrupt manner what I
wanted. When I tried to explain the object of my
call, he became still more ungentlemanly in his
words and manner, and finally grew so excited that
I left the house without waiting for a reply from
the lady. A few blocks from that house I called
to see a gentleman who received me in the most
cordial manner. He wrote me his check for a gen-
erous sum, and then, before I had had an oppor-
tunity to thank him^ said: '^ I am so grateful to

RAISING MONEY 185

you, Mr. Washington, for giving mc the opportu-
nity to help a good cause. It is a privilege to have
a share in it. We in Boston are constantly indebted
to you for doing our work." My experience in se-
curing money convinces me that the first type of
man is growing more rare all the time, and that the
latter type is increasing; that is, that, more and
more, rich people are coming to regard men and
women who apply to them for help for worthy ob-
jects, not as beggars, but as agents for doing their
work.

In the city of Boston I have rarely called upon
an individual for funds that I have not been thanked
for calling, usually before I could get an opportu-
nity to thank the donor for the money. In that
city the donors seem to feel, in a large degree, that
an honour is being conferred upon them in their
being permitted to give. Nowhere else have I met
with, in so large a measure, this fine and Christlike
spirit as in the city of Boston, although there are
many notable instances of it outside that city. I
repeat my belief that the world is growing in the
direction of giving. I repeat that the main rule by
which I have been guided in collecting money is
to do my full duty in regard to giving people who
have money an opportunity to help.

In the early years of the Tuskegee school I

1 86 UP FROM SLAVERY

walked the streets or travelled country roads in the
North for days and days without receiving a dollar.
Often it has happened, when during the week I had
been disappointed in not getting a cent from the
very individuals from whom I most expected help,
and when I was almost broken down and discour-
aged, that generous help has come from some one
who I had had little idea would give at all.

I recall that on one occasion I obtained informa-
tion that led me to believe that a gentleman who
lived about two miles out in the country from Stam-
ford, Conn., might become interested in our efforts
at Tuskegee if our conditions and needs were pre-
sented to him. On an unusually cold and stormy
day I walked the two miles to see him. After some
difficulty. I succeeded in securing an interview with
him. He listened with some degree of interest to
what I had to say, but did not give me anything.
I could not help having the feeling that, in a meas-
ure, the three hours that I had spent in seeing him
had been thrown away. Still, I had followed my
usual rule of doing my duty. If I had not seen
him, I should have felt unhappy over neglect of
duty.

Two years after this visit a letter came to Tuske-
gee from this man, which read like this : '^ Enclosed
I send you a New York draft for ten thousand dol-

RAISING MONEY 187

lars, to be used in furtherance of your work. I had
placed this sum in my will for your school, but deem
it wiser to give it to you while I live. I recall with
pleasure your visit to me two years ago."

I can hardly imagine any occurrence which could
have given me more genuine satisfaction than the
receipt of this draft. It was by far the largest
single donation which up to that time the school
had ever received. It came at a time when an
unusually long period had passed since we had
received any money. We were in great distress
because of lack of funds, and the nervous strain
was tremendous. It is difficult for me to think of
any situation that is more trying on the nerves than
that of conducting a large institution, with heavy
financial obligations to meet, without knowing
where the money is to come from to meet these
obligations from month to month.

In our case I felt a double responsibility, and
this made the anxiety all the more intense. If the
institution had been officered by white persons, and
had failed, it would have injured the cause of Negro
education ; but I knew that the failure of our insti-
tution, officered by Negroes, would not only mean
the loss of a school, but would cause people, in a
large degree, to lose faith in the ability of the entire
race. The receipt of this draft for ten thousand

1 88 UP FROM SLAVERY

dollars, under all these circumstances, partially
lifted a burden that had been pressing down upon
me for days.

From the beginning of our work to the present
I have always had the feeling, and lose no oppor-
tunity to impress our teachers with the same idea,
that the school will always be supported in propor-
tion as the inside of the institution is kept clean
and pure and wholesome.

The first time I ever saw the late CoUis P. Hunt-
ington, the great railroad man, he gave me two dol-
lars for our school. The last time I saw him, which
was a few months before he died, he gave me fifty
thousand dollars toward our endowment fund. Be-
tween these two gifts there were others of generous
proportions which came every year from both Mr.
and Mrs. Huntington.

Some people may say that it was Tuskegee's
good luck that brought to us this gift of fifty
thousand dollars. No, it was not luck. It was
hard work. Nothing ever comes to one, that is
worth having, except as a result of hard work.
When Mr. Huntington gave me the first two dol-
lars, I did not blame him for not giving me more,
but made up my mind that I was going to con-
vince him by tangible results that we were worthy
of larger gifts. For a dozen years I made a strong

RAISING MONEY 189

effort to convince Mr. Huntington of the value of
our work. I noted that just in proportion as the
usefulness of the school grew, his donations in-
creased. Never did I meet an individual who
took a more kindly and sympathetic interest in our
school than did Mr. Huntington. He not only
gave money to us, but took time in which to advise
me, as a father would a son, about the general con-*
duct of the school.

More than once I have found myself in some
pretty tight places while collecting money in the
North. The following incident I have never re-
lated but once before, for the reason that I feared
that people would not believe it. One morning I
found myself in Providence, Rhode Island, without
a cent of money with which to buy breakfast. In
crossing the street to see a lady /rom whom I
hoped to get some money, I found a bright new
twenty-five-cent piece in the middle of the street-
car track. I not only had this twenty-five cents
for my breakfast, but within a few minutes I had a
donation from the lady on whom I had started to
call.

At one of our Commencements I was bold
enough to invite the Rev. E. Winchester Donald,
D.D., rector of Trinity Church, Boston, to preach
the Commencement sermofit As we then had no

I90 UP FROM SLAVERY

room large enough to accommodate all who would
be present, the place of meeting was under a large,
improvised arbour, built partly of brush and partly
• of rough boards. Soon after Dr. Donald had begun
speaking, the rain came down in torrents, ^nd he had
to stop, while some one held an umbrella over him.

The boldness of what I had done never dawned
upon me until I saw the picture made by the rector
of Trinity Church standing before that large audi-
ence under an old umbrella, waiting for the rain to
cease so that he could go on with his address.

It was not very long before the rain ceased and
Dr. Donald finished his sermon ; and an excellent
sermon it was, too, in spite of the weather. After
he had gone to his room, and had gotten the wet
threads of his clothes dry. Dr. Donald ventured
the remark that a large chapel at Tuskegee would
not be out of place. The next day a letter came
from two ladies who were then travelling in Italy,
saying that they had decided to give us the money
for such a chapel as we needed.

A short time ago we received twenty thousand
dollars from Mr. Andrew Carnegie, to be used for
the purpose of erecting a new library building.
Our first library and reading-room were in a corner
of a shanty, and the whole thing occupied a spac^
^bout five by twelve feet. It required ten years of

RAISING MONEY 191

work before I was able to secure Mr. Carnegie's
interest and help. The first time I saw him, ten
years ago, he seemed to take but little interest in
our school, but I was determined to show him that
we were worthy of his help. After ten years of
hard work I wrote him a letter reading as follows :

December 15, 1900.
Mr. Andrew Carnegie, 5 W. Fifty-first St., New
York.

Dear Sir : Complying with the request which you
made of me when I saw you at your residence a few days
ago, I now submit in writing an appeal for a library build*
ing for our institution.

Wc have iioo students, 86 officers and instructors, to-
gether with their families, and about 200 coloured people
living near the school, all of whom would make use of the
library building.

We have over 1 2,000 books, periodicals, etc., gifts from
our friends, but we have no suitable place for them, and
we have no suitable reading-room.

Our graduates go to work in every section of the South,
and whatever knowledge might be obtained in the library
would serve to assist in the elevation of the whole Negro
race.

Such a building as we need could be erected for about
jS20,ooo. All of the work for the building, such as
brickmaking, bri^rk-masonry, carpentry, blacksmithing, etc.,
would be done by the students. The money which you
would give would not only supply the building, but the

192 UP FROM SLAVERY

erection of the building would give a large number of stu-
dents an opportunity to learn the building trades, and the
students would use the money paid to them to keep them«
selves in school. I do not believe that a similar amount
of money often could be made go so far in uplifting a
whole race.

If you wish further information, I shall be glad to fur-
nish it.

Yours truly,

Booker T. Washington, Principal.

The next mail brought back the following reply :
" I will be very glad to pay the bills for the library
building as they are incurred, to the extent of twenty
thousand dollars, and I am glad of this opportunity
to show the interest I have in your noble work."

I have found that strict business methods go a
long way in securing the interest of rich people. It
has been my constant aim at Tuskegee to carry out,
in our financial and other operations, such business
methods as would be approved of by any New York
banking house.

I have spoken of several large gifts to the school ;
but by far the greater proportion of the money that
has built up the institution has come in the form of
small donations from persons of moderate means.
It is upon these small gifts, which carry with them
the interest of hundreds of donors, that any philan-
thropic work must depend largely for its support

RAISING MONEY 193

In my efforts to get money I have often been sur-
prised at the patience and deep interest of the min-
isters, who are besieged on every hand and at all
hours of the day for help. If no other considera-
tion had convinced me of the value of the Christian
life, the Christlike work which the Church of all
denominations in America has done during the last
thirty-five years for the elevation of the black man
would have made me a Christian. In a large degree
it has been the pennies, the nickels, and the dimes
which have come from the Sunday-schools, the
Christian Endeavour societies, and the missionary
societies, as well as from the church proper, that
have helped to elevate the Negro at so rapid a rate.

This speaking of small gifts reminds me to say
that very few Tuskegee graduates fail to send us
an annual contribution. These contributions range
from twenty-five cents up to ten dollars.

Soon after beginning our third year's work we
were surprised to receive money from three special
sources, and up to the present time we have con-
tinued to receive help from them. First, the State
Legislature of Alabama increased its annual appro-
priation from two thousand dollars to three thousand
dollars ; I might add that still later it increased this
sum to four thousand five hundred dollars a year.
The effort to secure this increase was led by the

194 UP FROM SLAVERY

Hon. M. F. Foster, the member of the Legislature
from Tuskegee. Second, we received one thousand
dollars from the John F. Slater Fund. Our work
seemed to please the trustees of this fund, as they
soon began increasing their annual grant. This has
been added to from time to time until at presei t we
receive eleven thousand dollars annually from this
Fund. The other help to which I have refi rred
came in the shape of an allowance from the Peabody
Fund. This was at first five hundred dollars, but it
has since been increased to fifteen hundred dollars.

The effort to secure help from the Slater and
Peabody Funds brought me into contact with two
rare men — men who have had much to do in shap-
ing the policy for the education of the Negro. I
refer to the Hon. J. L. M. Curry, of Washingtoi|,
who is the general agent for these two funds, and
Mr. Morris K. Jesup, of New York. Dr. Curry
is a native of the South, an ex-Confederate soldier,
yet I do not believe there is any man in the coun-
try who is more deeply interested in the highest
welfare of the Negro than Dr. Curry, or one who
is more free from race prejudice. He enjoys the
unique distinction of possessing to an equal degree
the confidence of the black man and the Southern
white man. I shall never forget the first time I
met him. It was in Richmond, Va., where he was

RAISING MONEY 195

then living. I had heard much about him. When
I first went into his presence, trembling because of
my youth and inexperience, he took me by the
hand so cordially, and spoke such encouraging
words, and gave me such helpful advice regarding
the proper course to pursue, that I came to know
him then, as I have known him ever since, as a
high example of one who is constantly and unself-
ishly at work for the betterment of humanity.

Mr. Morris K. Jesup, the treasurer of the Slater
Fund, I refer to because I know of no man of wealth
and large and complicated business responsibilities
who gives not only money but his time and thought
to the subject of the proper method of elevating the
Negro to the extent that is true of Mr. Jesup. It
is very largely through his effort arid influence that
during the last few years the subject of industrial
education has assumed the importance that it has,
and been placed on its present footing.

CHAPTER XIII

TWO THOUSAND MILES FOR A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH

SOON after the opening of our boarding
department, quite a number of students who
evidently were worthy, but who were so poor
that they did not have any money to pay even the
small charges at the school, began applying for
admission. This class was composed of both men
and women. It was a great trial to refuse admis-
sion to these applicants, and in 1884 we established
a night-school to accommodate a few of them.

The night-school was organized on a plan simi-
lar to the one which I had helped to establish at
Hampton. At first it was composed of about a
dozen students. They were admitted to the night-
school only when they had no money with which
to pay any part of their board in the regular day-
school. It was further required that they must
work for ten hours during the day at some trade
or industry, and study academic branches for two
hours during the evening. This was the require-
ment for the first one or two years of their stay.

196

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH 197

They were to be paid something above the cost of
their board, with the understanding that all of their
earnings, except a very small part, were to be re-
served in the school's treasury, to be used for pay-
ing their board in the regular day-school after they
had entered that department. The night-school,
started in this manner, has grown until there are
at present four hundred and fifty-seven students
enrolled in it alone.

There could hardly be a more severe test of a
student's worth than this branch of the Institute's
work. It is largely because it furnishes such a
good opportunity to test the backbone of a student
that I place such high value upon our night-
school. Any one who is willing to work ten hours
a day at the brick-yard, or in the laundry, through
one or two years, in order that he or she may have
the privilege of studying academic branches for two
hours in the evening, has enough bottom to war-
rant being further educated.

After the student has left the night-school he
enters the day-school, where he takes academic
branches four days in a week, and works at his
trade two days. Besides this he usually works at
his trade during the three summer months. As a
rule, after a student has succeeded in going through
the night-school test, he finds a way to finish the

198 UP FROM SLAVERY

regular course in industrial and academic training*
No student, no matter how much money he may
be able to command, is permitted to go through
school without doing manual labour. In fact,- the
industrial work is now as popular as the academic
branches. Some of the most successful men and
women who have graduated from the institution
obtained their start in the night-school.

While a great deal of stress is laid upon the
industrial side of the work at Tuskegee, we do
not neglect or overlook in any degree the religious
and spiritual side. The school is strictly unde-
nominational, but it is thoroughly Christian, and
the spiritual training of the students is not neg-
lected. Our preaching service, prayer-meetings,
Sunday-school, Christian Endeavour Society, Young
Men's Christian Association, and various mission-'
ary organizations, testify to this.

In 1885, Miss Olivia Davidson, to whom I have
already referred as being largely responsible for the
success of the school during its early history, and I
were married. During our married life she con-
tinued to divide her time and strength betweea our
home and the work for the school. She not only
continued to work in the school at Tuskegee, but
also kept up her habit of going North to secure
funds. In 1889 she died, after four years of happy

A FIVt-MINUTE SPEECH 199

married life and eight y^ars of hjurd ^nd happy work
ibr the sckooi. She liteiaiiy w^re herself oirt in
her oerer ceaskg efforts in behalf of the work that
ahe so dearly loved. During our marrbd life there
were horn to tis two hr^ht, faeaudiiiil boya, Booker
Taliaiferro and Ecyiest Dairidson. The older of
these, Booker, has alneady maatered the hrick-
raaker's trade at Tvakegee.

[ have oAen been asked how I began the prac-
tM3e of public speaking. In answer I would aay
that 1 never planned to give any iarge part of my
h& to speaking m public I have ailways had more
•of ;aa addbotion to ^0 tbiiigs than nier<ely to talk
akM doing dbon. It seeing that when [ went
North Mriih Genend Armsrtrotng to speak at the
aeries of public mefrdogs to which I have referred,
the President of ithe National Educational Aaso-
datioo^ itrhe Hgb. Thomaa W. Bicknell, iKas pres-
ent at one of those meetings and heard me ap^k.
A ^few dafs :afterwafld he :^nt f»e a^ inviftation to
ddiver an addtiess at tdhe next meeting of the
Bdsticational Asaooatioo. This nveetang was to he
Ihdld tn Madison, W>is» I accepted tl^ invitation.
This was^ in a .<sense, the beg^mung of my puhhc-
speaking catieer.

Dn (the enenitig that J upoke befell the Asseeiar
tkin there must hanre been not £ir from four thour

200 UP FROM SLAVERY

sand persons present. Without my knowing it,
there were a large number of people present from
Alabama, and some from the town of Tuskegee.
These white people afterward frankly told me that
they went to this meeting expecting to hear the
South roundly abused, but were pleasantly surprised
to find that there was no word of abuse in my address.
On the contrary, the South was given credit for all
the praiseworthy things that it had done. A white
lady who was teacher in a college in Tuskegee wrote
back to the local paper that she was gratified, as
well as surprised, to note the credit which I gave
the white people of Tuskegee for their help in get-
ting the school started. This address at Madison
was the first that I had delivered that in any large
measure dealt with the general problem of the
races. Those who heard it seemed to be pleased
with what I said and with the general position that
I took.

When I first came to Tuskegee, I determined
that I would make it my home, that I would take
as much pride in the right actions of the people of
the town as any white man could do, and that I
would, at the same time, deplore the wrong-doing
of the people as much as any white man. I deter-
mined never to say anything in a public address in
the North that I would not be willing to say in the

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH 201

■

South. I early learned that it is a hard matter to
convert an individual by abusing him, and that this
is more often accomplished by giving credit for all
the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling
attention alone to all the evil done.

While pursuing this policy I have not failed, at
the proper time and in the proper manner, to call
attention, in no uncertain terms, to the wrongs
which any part of the South has been guilty of. I
have found that there is a large element in the
South that is quick to respond to straightforward,
honest criticism of any wrong policy. As a rule,
the place to criticise the South, when criticism is
necessary, is in the South — not in Boston. A
Boston man who came to Alabama to criticise
Boston would not effect so much good, I think,
as one who had his word of criticism to say in
Boston.

In this address at Madison I took the ground
that the policy to be pursued with reference to the
races was, by every honourable means, to bring
them together and to encourage the cultivation of
friendly relations, instead of doing that which would
embitter. I further contended that, in relation to
his vote, the Negro should more and more consider
the interests of the community in which he lived,
rather than seek alone to please some one who

402 UP FROM SLAVERY

liv^ H th^tisiinid miks away ifrom him and irom
his tftteirestd.

Iti this luidress I said dust the whok future oif
dit N^o nested largely upon the question as to
whether or not ke should m&lke hin^df, through
his skiH, intelligence, aind character, of sudh unde-
^liable value to the 'comnnumty in which he lived
that the community could not dispense with his
presence. I ^d ^that a»iy individual who learned
to do something better than anybody else- — learned
to do a cdmmon tlhing in ^n uncommon manner
*— had solved his problem, regardless of the colour
of his 'skin, and that in proportion as the Negro
learned to produce what 'Otiher people wanted and
musft have, in vhe same pstoportaon ^ould he l!>e
respected.

I ^poke of an instance where one of 'Our )gradu-
ates had produced two hundred and sixty-six
bushels *of sweet potatoes from an acre of ground,
in a community Where the average production had
been only forty -*iine bushels to the acre. He
had been able to do tMs by reason ^ his knowl-
edge of the cheittistry ©f the soil and by his
knowledge of improved methods of agriculture.
The white farmers in the neighbourhood respected
him, and came to him f&r ideas ^gardmg the rais-
ing of sweet potatoes. Thede wfaote farmers hon-

A FIYE-^MINUTE SPEECH 203

ouitid aud rc^spected him because he> by hi& $kUl
asid knowledge, had added ^ojpaething tp thq wealth
and ther comfort of the community in which he
lived. I explained that my theoiy of education for
the Negro would not,, for exa«vplie,, coufine him fgr
all time to farm life — to the production pf the
best and the most sweet potatoes^— ^but that, if
he succeeded in this, line of industry,, he could lay
the foundations upon which his children and graud^
children could grow to higher and more impoJi?taut
things in life.

Suchj in brief, were some of the views I advocated
in this first address dealing with the broad question
of the relations of the two races, and since that time
I have not found any reason for changing my viewa
on any important point.

In my early life I used to cherish a feeling of ill
will toward a;iy one who spoke in hitter terms
against the Negro, or who advocated measures that
tended to oppress the black man or take from him
opportunities for growth in the most complete man-
ner. Now, whenever J hear any one advocating
measures that are meant to curtail the development
of another, I pity the individual who would do this.
I know that the one who makes this mistake does
so because of his own lack of opportunity for the
highest kind of growth. I pity him because I know

204 UP FROM SLAVERY

that he is trying to stop the progress of the world,
and because I know that in time the development
and the ceaseless advance of humanity will make
him ashamed of his weak and narrow position.
One might as well try to stop the progress of a
mighty railroad train by throwing his body across
the track, as to try to stop the growth of the world
in the direction of giving mankind more intelli-
gence, more culture, more skill, more liberty, and in
the direction of extending more sympathy and more
brotherly kindness.

The address which I delivered at Madison, before
the National Educational Association, gave me a
rather wide introduction in the North, and soon
after that opportunities began offering themselves
for me to address audiences there.

I was anxious, however, that the way might also
be opened for me to speak directly to a representa-
tive Southern white audience. A partial opportu-
nity of this kind, one that seemed to me might
serve as an entering wedge, presented itself in
1893, when the international meeting of Christian
Workers was held at Atlanta, Ga. When this in-
vitation came to me, I had engagements in Bos-
ton that seemed to make it impossible for me to
speak in Atlanta. Still, after looking over my list
of dates and places carefully, I found that I could

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH 205

take a train from Boston that would get me into
Atlanta about thirty minutes before my address was
to be delivered, and that I could remain in that city
about sixty minutes before taking another train for
Boston. My invitation to speak in Atlanta stipu-
lated that I was to confine my address to five min-
utes. The question, then, was whether or not I
could put enough into a five-minute address to
make it worth while for me to make such a trip.

I knew that the audience would be largely com-
posed of the most influential class of white men and
women, and that it would be a rare opportunity for
me to let them know what we were trying to do at
Tuskegee, as well as to speak to them about the
relations of the races. So I decided to make the
trip. I spoke for five minutes to an audience of
two thousand people, composed mostly of Southern
and Northern whites. What I said seemed to be
received with favour and enthusiasm. The Atlanta
papers of the next day commented in friendly terms
on my address, and a good deal was said about it in
different parts of the country. I felt that I had in
some degree accomplished my object — that of get-
ting a hearing from the dominant class of the South.

The demands made upon me for public addresses
continued to increase, coming in about equal num-
bers from my own people and from Northern whites.

aoe UP FROM SLAVERY

I gave as mucK dme to these tddresdes at I cooid
spare from the immediate work at Ttiskegee. Most
of the addresses in the North were made lor the
direct purpose of getting funds with which to
support the school. Those delivered before the
coloured people had for their main object the iitH
pressing upon them of the importance of industrial
and technical education in addition to academic and
religious trainings

I now come to that one of the incidents in my
life which seems to have excited the greatest amount
of interest^ and which perhaps went further than
anything else in giving me a reputation that in a
sense might be called NationaL I refer to the
address which I delivered at the opening of the
Atlanta Cotton states and International Exposition^
at Atlanta^ Ga., September i8, ^^9S'

So much has been said and written about this
incident, and so many questions have been asked
me concerning the address^ that perhaps I may be
excused for taking up the matter with some detail*
The five-minute address in Atlanta, which I came
from Boston to deliver, was possibly the prime
cause for an opportunity being given me to make
the second address there^ In the spring of 1895 I
received a telegram from prominent citizens in
Atlanta asking me to accompany a committee from

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH aoj

that city to Waahington icMr the purpose of appear-
ing before a committee of Congress in the interest
of aecuriiig Government help for the Exposition.
Th^ committee wa» composed of about twentty-five
of the most prominent and most influential white
nven of Geor^a* All the members of this covn-
mittee Were white men except Bishop Grant, Bishop
Gaines^ and myself. The Mayoir and several other
city and state (^ctal^ spoke before the committee.
They were followed by the two coloured bishops.
My name was the last on the list of speakers. I
had never before appeared before such a committee,^
nor had I ever delivered any address in the capital
of the Nation. I had many misgivings as to what
I ought to say I and as to the impression that my
address would make« While I cannot recall in
detail what I said^ I remember that I tried to im-
press upon the committee^ with all the earnestness
and plainness of any language that I could com-
mand| that if Congress wanted to do something
which would assist in ridding the South of the race
question and making friends between the two races,
it should, in every proper way, encourage the mate-
rial and intellectual growth of both races^ I said
that the Atlanta Exposition would present an oppor-
tunity for both races to show what advance they
had made since freedom, and would at the same

2o8 UP FROM SLAVERY

time afFord encouragement to them to make still
greater progress.

I tried to emphasize the fact that while the Negro
should not be deprived by unfair means of the fran-
chise, political agitation alone would not save him,
and that back of the ballot he must have property,
industry, skill, economy, intelligence, and character,
and that no race without these elements could per-
manently succeed. I said that in granting the
appropriation Congress could do something that
would prove to be of real and lasting value to both
races, and that it was the first great opportunity of
the kind that had been presented since the close of
the Civil War.

I spoke for fifteen or twenty minutes, and was
surprised at the close of my address to receive the
hearty congratulations of the Georgia committee
and of the members of Congress who were present.
The Committee was unanimous in making a fa-
vourable report, and in a few days the bill passed
Congress. With the passing of this bill the success
of the Atlanta Exposition was assured.

Soon after this trip to Washington the directors
of the Exposition decided that it would be a fitting
recognition of the coloured race to erect a large and
attractive building which should be devoted wholly
to showing the progress of the Negro since freedom.

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH 209

It was further decided to have the building designed
and erected wholly by Negro mechanics. This plan
was carried out. In design, beauty, and general fin-
ish the Negro Building was equal to the others on
the grounds.

After it was decided to have a separate Negro
exhibit, the question arose as to who should take
charge of it. The officials of the Exposition were
anxious that I should assume this responsibility,
but I declined to do so, on the plea that the work
at Tuskegee at that time demanded my time and
strength. Largely at my suggestion, Mr. I. Gar-
land Penn, of Lynchburg, Va., was selected to be
at the head of the Negro department. I gave him
all the aid that I could. The Negro exhibit, as a
whole, was large and creditable. The two exhibits
in this department which attracted the greatest
amount of attention were those from the Hampton
Institute and the Tuskegee Institute. The people
who seemed to be the most surprised, as well as
pleased, at what they saw in the Negro Building
were the Southern white people.

As the day for the opening of the Exposition
drew near, the Board of Directors began preparing
the programme for the opening exercises. In the
discussion from day to day of the various features
of this programme, the question came up as to the

2ia UF FROM SLAVERY

advisakHlky of |Mibf dng a member of the Negpa race
cm for one of the opening addresses, since thie
Negroea had been asked to take such a prominent
part irk the Expositkm* It was arguedy furthejr>
that such recognition would mark the good
feeling prevailing between the two races., Of
course there were those who were op|K>sed to any
such recogEutioa of the rights of the Negroni but the
Board of Directors, composed of men who repre-
sented the best and most progressive element in the
South, had their way,, and voted to invite a black
man to speak on the opening day. The next thing
was to decide upon the person who was thus to
represent the Negro race. After the question had
been canvassed for several days^ the directors voted
unanimously to ask me to deliver one of the open-
ing-day addresses, and in a few days after that I
received the official invitation*

The receiving of this invitation brought to me a
sense of responsibility that it would be hard for any
one not placed in my position to appreciate. What
were my feelings when this invitation came to me ?
I remembered that I had been a slave; that my
early years had been spent in the lowest depths of
poverty and ignorance, and that I had had little
opportunity to prepare me for such a responsi-
bility as this. It was only a few years before that

A frVE^MINUTE SPEECH lit

ime th^t any whke mwa in the audience nught
have daimed me «s his slave:; ^uid it was easily
possible that some ^ my former owners might be
present to bear me speak.

I knew, too, that thiis was the iirst time in the
sntiTe bistoty »off the Negro that a member of my
race had been asked to ^speak ifix^m the same plat-
form with ^ite Southern men and women on any
important National occasion. I 3«^as asked now <x>
speak to an audience composed of the wealth and
cukure of the white South, tflie representatives of
my former masters, i knew, too, that while the
^eater part of 'my iuidience woxild be composed of
Southern people, yet tbere womld be present a large
nu^mber of Northern whites, as weU as a great many
men and women ^ nry own irace.

I was determined to say nothing that I dtid not
feel from the bottom of my heart to be true and
right. When the invitation came to me, there was
not one word of intSmation as to what I siho»ld say
or as to wh^t I sfhotrld omit. In this I tfi^t that tthe
Board of Directors had paid a tribute to me. They
knew that by 'one sentence I :could have blasted, in
a large degree, the success of the Exposition. I
was also painfully conscious of the ifact that, while
I must be true to my own race in my utterancea, I
had it in my power to >make sucdi «n ill-timed «ad-

212 UP FROM SLAVERY

dress as would result in preventing any similar
invitation being extended to a black man again for
years to come. I was equally determined to be
true to the North, as well as to the best element of
the white South, in what I had to say.

The papers. North and South, had taken up the
discussion of my coming speech, and as the time
for it drew near this discussion became more and
more widespread. Not a few of the Southern white
papers were unfriendly to the idea of my speaking.
From my own race I received many suggestions as
to what I ought to say. I prepared myself as best
I could for the address, but as the eighteenth of
September drew nearer, the heavier my heart be-
came, and the more I feared that my effort would
prove a failure and a disappointment.

The invitation had come at a time when I was
very bus/ with my school work, as it was the be-
ginning of our school year. After preparing my
address, I went through it, as I usually do with all
those utterances which I consider particularly im-
portant, with Mrs. Washington, and she approved
of what I intended to say. On the sixteenth of
September, the day before I was to start for Atlanta,
so many of the Tuskegee teachers expressed a de-
sire to hear my address that I consented to read it
to them in a body. When I had done so, and had

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH 213

heard their criticisms and comments, I felt some-
what relieved, since they seemed to think well of
what I had to say.

On the morning of September 17, together with
Mrs. Washington and my three children, I started
for Atlanta. I felt a good deal as I suppose a man
feels when he is on his way to the gallows. In
passing through the town of Tuskegee I met a
white farmer who lived some distance out in the
country. In a jesting manner this man said:
" Washington, you have spoken before the North-
ern white people, the Negroes in the South, and
to us country white people in the South ; but in
Atlanta, to-morrow, you will have before you the
Northern whites, the Southern whites, and the Ne-
groes all together. I am afraid that you have got
yourself into a tight place." This farmer diagnosed
the situation correctly, but his frank words did not
add anything to my comfort.

In the course of the journey from Tuskegee to
Atlanta both coloured and white people came to
the train to point me out, and discussed with per-
fect freedom, in my hearing, what was going to
take place the next day. We were met by a com-
mittee in Atlanta. Almost the first thing that I
heard when I got off the train in that city was an
expression something like this, from an old coloured

214 ^f FROM SLAVEIY

imm near Iiy .: '^ Ds^*s de iiuui of my raoe what 8
gwine to oiAke « Bpeech ^ ile ExpositiDn to-mor-
row. I'se sho' gwine to hear him."

AdidDta was literally packed, a£ tke time, with
peopk tfrom all parts of this country^ jmd with
representatives of foreign gov^tmments, as well as
with military jud civic o]!ganizatk>ns. The after*-
noon papers had fopecaets of the aext (day s pro-
iieedingB in flaring keadlintes. AJi this temded to
add to my harden. I did not «leep muck that
night. The tne&t mocmng, hi^ore days .1 went care-
iiiUy ovier what I intended to say. I also kneeled
down and asked God« bkssing «ipoA my effort.
Right here, perhaps, I ought to add that I jxulse it
a ^nule never to go hefore .an audience, osi axiy occa-
sion, witbout asking the blessing -of God upon what
I wamt ito say^

I ah^ays make it a rule to noake ^spedal pr£|>axa*
tion for each separate address. No two audiences
are exactly alikis. It is my aim to reach and talk to
the heart of each individual audience, taking it tn;to
my confidence very much as I would a person.
When I am speaking te aA audience, I care Uttie
for how what I am raying is ^oing to sound in the
newspapers, or to another <andiems^ or to an indi-
vidual. At the time, the .audience hcfostc ,mc iib-
sorbs all my sympathy;, thought, ^nd enea^y.

A FIVE-MINUTE SPEECH a 15

Early in the morning a committee called to
escort me to my place in the procession which
was to march to the Exposition grounds. In this
procession were prominent coloured citizens in car-
riages, as well as several Negro military organiza-
tions. I noted that the Exposition officials seemed
to go out of their way to see that all of the coloured
people in the procession were properly placed and
properly treated. The procession was about three
hours in reaching the Exposition grounds, and dur-
ing all of this time the sun was shining down upon
us disagreeably hot. When we reached the grounds,
the heat, together with my nervous anxiety, made
me feel as if I were about ready to collapse, and to
feel that my address was not going to be a success.
When I entered the audience-room, I found it
packed with humanity from bottom to top, and
there were thousands outside who could not get in.

The room was very large, and well suited to pub-
lic speaking. When I entered the room, there were
vigorous cheers from the coloured portion of the
audience, and faint cheers from some of the white
people. I had been told, while I had been in
Atlanta, that while many white people were going
to be present to hear me speak, simply out of
curiosity, and that others who would be present
would be in full sympathy with me, there was

2i6 UP FROM SLAVERY

a still larger element of the audience which would
consist of those who were going to be present for
the purpose of hearing me make a fool of myself,
or, at least, of hearing me say some foolish thing,
so that they cpuld say to the officials who had
invited me to speak, "I told you so!"

One of the trustees of the Tuskegee Institute, as
well as my personal friend, Mr. William H. Bald-
win, Jr. was at the time General Manager of the
Southern Railroad, and happened to be in Atlanta
on that day. He was so nervous about the kind
of reception that I would have, and the effect that
my speech would produce, that he could not per-
suade himself to go into the building, but walked
back and forth in the grounds outside until the
opening exercises were over.

CHAPTER XIV

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS

THE Atlanta Exposition, at which I had
been asked to make an address as a repre-
sentative of the Negro race, as stated in
the last chapter, was opened with a short address
from Governor Bullock. After other interesting
exercises, including an invocation from Bishop Nel-
son, of Georgia, a dedicatory ode by Albert Howell,
Jr., and addresses by the President of the Exposi-
tion and Mrs. Joseph Thompson, the President of
the Woman's Board, Governor Bullock introduced
me with the words, "We have with us to-day a
representative of Negro enterprise and Negro civili-
zation."

When I arose to speak, there was considerable
cheering, especially from the coloured people. As
I remember it now, the thing that was uppermost
in my mind was the desire to say something that
would cement the friendship of the races and bring
about hearty cooperation between them. So far as
my outward surroundings were concerned, the only

217

2i8 UP FROM SLAVERY

thing that I recall distinctly now is that when I got
up, I saw thousands of eyes looking intently into
my face. The following is the address which I
delivered : —

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board
OF Directors and Citizens.

One-third of the population of the South is of
the Negro race. No enterprise seeking the mate-
rial, civil, or moral welfare of this section can disre-
gard this element of our population and reach the
highest success. I but convey to you, Mr. Presi-
dent and Directors, the sentiment of the masses of
my race when I say that in no way have the value
and manhood of the American Negro been more
fittingly and generously recognized than by the
managers of this magnificent Exposition at every
stage of its progress. It is a recognition that will
do more to cement the friendship of the two races
than any occurrence since the dawn of our freedom.

Not only this, but the opportunity here afiForded
will awaken among us a new era of industrial prog-
ress. Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not strange
that in the first years of our new life we began at
the top instead of at the bottom ; that a seat in
Congress or the state legislature was more sought
than real estate or industrial skill ; that the political

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 219

convention or stump speaking had more attractions
than starting a dairy farm or truck garden.

A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted
a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortu-
nate vessel was seen a signal, "Water, water; we
die of thirst ! " The answer from the friendly ves-
sel at once came back, "Cast down your bucket
where you are.'* A second time the signal, "Water,
water ; send us water ! " ran up from the distressed
vessel, and was answered, " Cast down your bucket
where you are." And a third and fourth signal for
water was answered, " Cast down your bucket where
you are." The captain of the distressed vessel, at
last heeding the injunction, cast down his bucket,
and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from
the mouth of the Amazon River. To those of my
race who depend on bettering their condition in a
foreign land or who underestimate the importance
of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern
white man, who is their next-door neighbour, I would
say : " Cast down your bucket where you are " —
cast it down in making friends in every manly way
of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded.

Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in com-
merce, in domestic service, and in the professions.
And in this connection it is well to bear in mind
that whatever other sins the South may be called to

220 UP FROM SLAVERY

bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it
is in the South that the Negro is given a man's
chance in the commercial world, and in nothing is
this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing
this chance. Our greatest danger is that in the great
leap from slavery to freedom we may overlook the
fact that the masses of us are to live by the produc-
tions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we
shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify
and glorify common labour and put brains and skill
into the common occupations of life ; shall prosper
in proportion as we learn to draw the line between
the superficial and the substantial, the ornamental
gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can pros-
per till it learns that there is as much dignity in
tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bot-
tom of life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor
should we permit our grievances to overshadow our
opportunities.

To those of the white race who look to the incom-
ing of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and
habits for the prosperity of the South, were I per-
mitted I would repeat what I say to my own race,
" Cast down your bucket where you are." Cast it
down among the eight millions of Negroes whose
habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have
tested in days when to have proved treacherous

THE ATI^ANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 221

meant the ruin of your firesides. Cast down your
bucket among these people who have, without
strikes and labour wars, tilled your fields, cleared
your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and
brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth,
and helped make possible this magnificent represen-
tation of the progress of the South. Casting down
your bucket among my people, helping and encour-
aging them as you are doing on these grounds, and
to education of head, hand, and heart, you will find
that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom
the waste places in your fields, and run your facto-
ries. While doing this, you can be sure in the
future, as in the past, that you and your families
will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful,
law-abiding, and unresentful people that the world
has seen. As we have proved our loyalty to you
in the past, in nursing your children, watching by
the sick-bed of your mothers and fathers, and often
following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves,
so in the future, in our humble way, we shall stand
by you with a devotion that no foreigner can ap-
proach, ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in
defence of yours, interlacing our industrial, commer-
cial, civil, and religious life with yours in a way that
shall make the interests of both races one. In all
things that are purely social we can bs as separate

212 UP FROM SLAVERY

as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things
essential to mutual progress.

There is no defence or security for any of us ex-
cept in the highest intelligence and development of
all. If anywhere there are efforts tending to curtail
the fullest growth of the Negro, let these efforts be
turned into stimulating, encouraging, and making
him the most useful and intelligent citizen. Effort
or means so invested will pay a thousand per cent
interest. These efforts will be twice blessed —
"blessing him that gives and him that takes.**

There is no escape through law of man or God
from the inevitable : —

The laws of changeless jusdce bind

Oppressor with oppressed ;
And close as sin and suffering joined

We march to &te abreast.

Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in
pulling the load upward, or they will pull against
you the load downward. We shall constitute one-
third and more of the ignorance and crime of the
South, or one-third its intelligence and progress ;
we shall contribute one-third to the business and
industrial prosperity of the South, or we shall prove
a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing,
retarding every effort to advance the body politic.

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 213

Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to
you our humble eiFort at an exhibition of our prog-
ress, you must not expect overmuch. Starting thirty
years ago with ownership here and there in a few
quilts and pumpkins and chickens (gathered from
miscellaneous sources), remember the path that has
led from these to the inventions and production
of agricultural implements, buggies, steam-engines,
newspapers, books, statuary, carving, paintings, the
management of drug-stores and banks, has not been
trodden without contact with thorns and thistles.
While we take pride in what we exhibit as a result
of our independent efforts, we do not for a moment
forget that our part in this exhibition would fall far
short of your expectations but for the constant help
that has come to our educational life, not only from
the Southern states, but especially from Northern
philanthropists, who have made their gifts a constant
stream of blessing and encouragement.

The wisest among my race understand that the
agitation of questions of social equality is the ex-
tremcst folly, and that progress in the enjoyment
of all the privileges that will come to us must be
the result of severe and constant struggle rather
than of artificial forcing. No race that has any-
thing to contribute to the markets of the world is
long in any degree ostracized. It is important and

224 UP FROM SLAVERY

right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is
vastly more important that we be prepared for the
exercises of these privileges. The opportunity to
earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely
more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an
opera-house.

In conclusion, may I repeat that nothing in thirty
years has given us more hope and encouragement,
and drawn us so near to you of the white race, as
this opportunity offered by the Exposition ; and
here bending, as it were, over the altar that repre-
sents the results of the struggles of your race and
mine, both starting practically empty-handed three
decades ago, I pledge that in your effort to work
out the great and intricate problem which God has
laid at the doors of the South, you shall have at all
times the patient, sympathetic help of my race;
only let this be constantly in mind, that, while from
representations in these buildings of the product of
field, of forest, of mine, of factory, letters, and art,
much good will come, yet far above and beyond
material benefits will be that higher good, that, let
us pray God, will come, in a blotting out of sec-
tional differences and racial animosities and sus-
picions, in a determination to administer absolute
justice, in a willing obedience among all classes to
the mandates of law. This, this, coupled with our

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 225

material prosperity, will bring into our beloved
South a new heaven and a new earth.

The first thing that I remember, after I had fin-
ished speaking, was that Governor Bullock rushed
across the platfi^rm and took me by the hand, and
that others did the same. I received so many and
such hearty congratulations that I fiDund it difficult
to get out of the building. I did not appreciate to
any degree, however, the impression which my
address seemed to have made, until the next morn-
ing, when I went into the business part of the city.
As soon as I was recognized, I was surprised to
find myself pointed out and surrounded by a crowd
of men who wished to shake hands with me. This
was kept up on every street on to which I went, to
an extent which embarrassed me so much that I
went back to my boarding-place. The next morn-
ing I returned to Tuskegee. At the station in
Atlanta, and at almost all of the stations at which
the train stopped betweeo that city and Tuskegee,
I found a crowd of people anxious to shake hands
with me.

The papers in all parts of the United States pub-
lished the address in fiill, and for months afterward
there were complimentary editorial references to it.
Mr. Clark Howell, the editor of the Atlanta Con-

226 UP FROM SLAVERY

stitutiony telegraphed to a New York paper, among
other words, the following, " I do not exaggerate
when I say that Professor Booker T. Washington's
address yesterday was one of the most notable
speeches, both as to character and as to the
warmth of its reception, ever delivered to a South-
ern audience. The address was a revelation. The
whole speech is a platform upon which blacks
and whites can stand with full justice to each
other." ^

The Boston Transcript said editorially: "The
speech of Booker T. Washington at the Atlanta
Exposition, this week, seems to have dwarfed all
the other proceedings and the Exposition itself.
The sensation that it has caused in the press has
never been equalled."

I very soon began receiving all kinds of proposi-
tions from lecture bureaus, and editors of magazines
and papers, to take the lecture platform, and to
write articles. One lecture bureau offered me fifty
thousand dollars, or two ^hundred dollars a night
and expenses, if I would place my services at its
disposal for a given period. To all these commu-
nications I replied that my life-work was at Tuske-
gee ; and that whenever I spoke it must be in the
interests of the Tuskegee school and my race,
and that I would enter into no arrangements that

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 227

seemed to place a mere commercial value upon m]
services.

Some days after its delivery I sent a copy of my
address to the President of the United States, the
Hon. Grover Cleveland. I received from him the
following autograph reply : —

Gray Gables, Buzzard's Bay, Mass. 9

October 6, 1895.

BooiCER T. Washington, Esq. :

My Dear Sir : I thank you for sending me a copy of
your address delivered at the Atlanta Exposition.

I thank you with much enthusiasm for making the ad-
dress. I have read it with intense interest, and I think
the Exposition would be fully justified if it did not do more
than furnish the opportunity for its delivery. Your words
cannot fail to delight and encourage all who wish well for
your race ; and if our coloured fellow-citizens do not from
your utterances gather new hope and form new determina-
tions to gain every valuable advantage offered them by their
citizenship, it will be strange indeed.

Yours very truly,

Grover Cleveland.

Later I met Mr. Cleveland, for the first time,
when, as President, he visited the Atlanta Exposi-
tion. At the request of myself and others he con-
sented to spend an hour in the Negro Building, for
the purpose of inspecting the Negro exhibit and of

228 UP FROM SLAVERY

giving the coloured people in attendance an oppor-
tunity to shake hands with him. As soon as I met
Mr. Cleveland I became impressed with his sim-
plicity, greatness, and rugged honesty. I have met
him many times since then, both at public functions
and at his private residence in Princeton, and the
more I see of him the more I admire him. When
he visited the Negro Building in Atlanta he seemed
to give himself up wholly, for that hour, to the
coloured people. He seemed to be as careful to
shake hands with some old coloured " auntie " clad
partially in rags, and to take as much pleasure in
doing so, as if he were greeting some million naire.
Many of the coloured people took advantage of the
occasion to get him to write his name in a book or
on a slip of paper. He was as careful and patient
in doing this as if he were putting his signature to
some great state document.

Mr. Cleveland has not only shown his friendship
for me in many personal ways, but has always con-
sented to do anything I have asked of him for our
school. This he has done, whether it was to make
a personal donation or to use his influence in secur-
ing the donations of others. Judging from my per-
sonal acquaintance with Mr. Cleveland, I do not
believe that he is conscious of possessing any colour
prejudice. He is too great for that. In my con-

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 229

tact with people I find that, as a rule, it is only the
little, narrow people who live for themselves, who
never read good books, who do not travel, who
never open up their souls in a way to permit them
to come into contact with other souls — with the
great outside world. No man whose vision is
bounded by colour can come into contact with what
is highest and best in the world. In meeting men,
in many places, I have found that the happiest peo-
ple are those who do the most for others ; the most
miserable are those who do the least. I have also
found that few things, if any, are capable of making
one so blind and narrow as race prejudice. I often
say to our students, in the course of my talks to
them on Sunday evenings in the chapel, that the
longer I live and the more experience I have of
the world, the more I am convinced that, after all,
the one thing that is most worth living for — and
dying for, if need be — is the opportunity of mak-
ing some one else more happy and more useful.

The coloured people and the coloured newspapers
at first seemed to be greatly pleased with the charac-
ter of my Atlanta address, as well as with its recep-
tion. But after the first burst of enthusiasm began
to die away, and the coloured people began reading
the speech in cold type, some of them seemed to
feel that they had been hypnotized. They seemed

236 UP FROM SLAVERY

to feel that I had been too liberal in my remarks
toward the Southern whites, and that I had not
spoken out strongly enough for what they termed
the " rights " of the race. For a whilf there was a
reaction, so far as a certain element of my own race
was concerned, but later these reactionary ones
seemed to have been won over to my way of be-
lieving and acting.

While speaking of changes in public sentiment, I
recall that about ten years after the school at Tuske-
gee was established, I had an experience that I shall
never forget. Dr. Lyman Abbott, then the pastor
of Plymouth Church, and also editor of the Outlook
(then the Christian Union), asked me to write a let-
ter for his paper giving my opinion of the exact
condition, mental and moral, of the coloured minis-
ters in the South, as based upon my observations.
I wrote the letter, giving the exact facts as I con-
ceived them to be. The picture painted was a
rather black one — or, since I am black, shall I say
"white"? It could not be otherwise with a race
but a few years out of slavery, a race which had not
had time or opportunity to produce a competent
ministry.

What I said soon reached every Negro minister
in the country, I think, and the letters of condem-
nation which I received from them were not few.

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 231

I think that for a year after the publication of this
article every association and every conference or
religious body of any kind, of my race, that met,
did not fail before adjourning to pass a resolution
condemning me, or calling upon me to retract or
modify what I had said. Many of these organiza-
tions went so far in their resolutions as to advise
parents to cegse sending their children to Tuskegee.
One association even appointed a *' missionary "
whose duty it was to warn the people against send-
ing their children to Tuskegee. This missionary
had a son in the school, and I noticed that, what-
ever the *^ missionary " might have said or done
with regard to others, he was careful not to take
his son away from the institution. Many of the
coloured papers, especially those that were the
organs of religious bodies, joined in the general
chorus of condemnation or demands for retraction.
During the whole time of the excitement, and
through all the criticism, I did not utter a word of
explanation or retraction. I knew that I was right,
and that time and the sober second thought of the
people would vindicate me. It was not long before
the bishops and other church leaders began to make
a careful investigation of the conditions of the min-
istry, and they found out that I was right. In fact,
the oldest and most influential bishop in one branch

232 UP FROM SLAVERY

of the Methodist Church said that my wprds were
far too mild. Very soon public sentiment began
making itself felt, in demanding a purifying of the
ministry. While this is not yet complete by any
means, I think I may say, without egotism, and I
have been told by many of our most influential
ministers, that my words had much to do with start-
ing a demand for the placing of a higher type of
men in the pulpit. I have had the satisfaction of
having many who once condemned me thank me
heartily for my frank words.

The change of the attitude of the Negro minis-
try, so far as regards myself. Is so complete that at
the present time I have no warmer friends among
any class than I have among the clergymen. The
improvement in the character and life of the Negro
ministers is one of the most gratifying evidences of
the progress of the race. My experience with them,
as well as other events in my life, convince me that
the thing to do, when one feels sure that he has said
or done the right thing, and is condemned, is to
stand still and keep quiet. If he is right, time will
show it.

In the midst of the discussion which was going on
concerning my Atlanta speech, I received the letter
which I give below, from Dr. Gilman, the President
of Johns Hopkins University, who had been made

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 233

chairman of the judges of award In connection with
the Atlanta Exposition : —

Johns Hopkins UNivERsmr, Baltimore,
President's Office, September 30, 1895.

Dear Mr. Washington: Would it be agreeable to

you to be one of the Judges of Award in the Department

of Education at Atlanta ? If so, I shall be glad to place

your name upon the list. A line by telegraph will be

welcomed.

Yours very truly,'

D. C. Oilman.

I think I was even more surprised to receive this
invitation than I had been to receive the invitation
to speak at the opening of the Exposition. It was
to be a part of my duty, as one of the jurors, to
pass not only upon the exhibits of the coloured
schools, but also upon those of the white schools.
I accepted the position, and spent a month in
Atlanta in performance of the duties which it en-
tailed. The board of jurors was a large one, con-
sisting in all of sixty members. It was about
equally divided between Southern white people
and Northern white people. Among them were
college presidents, leading scientists and men of
letters, and specialists in many subjects. When
tiiQ group of jurors to which I was assigned met
fo! organization, Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, who

234 UP FROM SLAVERY

was one of the number, moved that I be made
secretary of that division, and the motion was
unanimously adopted. Nearly half of our divi-
sion were Southern people. In performing my
duties in the inspection of the exhibits of white
schools I was in every case treated with respect,
and at the close of our labours I parted from my
associates with regret,

I am often asked to express myself more freely
than I do upon the political condition and the
political future of my race. These recollections
of my experience in Atlanta give me the opportu-
nity to do so briefly. My own belief is, although
I have never before said so in so many words, that
the time will come when the Negro in the South
will be accorded all the political rights which his
ability, character, and material possessions entitle
him to. I think, though, that the opportunity to
freely exercise such political rights will not come in
any large degree through outside or artificial forc-
ing, but will be accorded to the Negro by the
Southern white people themselves, and that they
will protect him in the exercise of those rights.
Just as soon as the South get8 over the old feeling
that it is being forced by "foreigners," or "aliens,"
to do something which it does not want to do, I
believe that the change in the direction that I have

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 235

indicated is going to begin. In fact, there are in^
dications that it is already beginning in a slight
degree.

Let me illustrate my meaning. Suppose that
some months before the opening of the Atlanta
Exposition there had been a general demand from
the press and public platform outside the South
that a Negro be given a place on the opening pro-
gramme, and that a Negro be placed upon the
board of jurors of award. Would any such recog-
nition of the race have taken place ? I do not
think so. The Atlanta officials went as far as they
did because they felt it to be a pleasure, as well as
a duty, to reward what they considered merit irt
the Negro race. Say what we will, there is some-
thing in human nature which we cannot blot out,
which makes one man, in the end, recognize and
reward merit in another, regardless of colour or
race.

I believe it is the duty of the Negro — as the
greater part of the race is already doing — to deport
himself modestly in regard to political claims, de-
pending upon the slow but sure influences that
proceed from the possession of property, intelli-
gence, and high character for the full recognition
of his political rights. I think that the according
of the full exercise of political rights is going to be

236 UP FROM SLAVERY

a matter of natural, slow growth, not an over-night,
gourd- vine affair. I do not believe that the Negro
should cease voting, for a man cannot learn the
exercise of self-government by ceasing to vote, any
more than a boy can learn to swim by keeping out
of the water, but I do believe that in his voting he
should more and more be influenced by those of
intelligence and character who are his next-door
neighbours.

I know coloured men who, through the encour-
agement, help, and advice of Southern white peop)e,
have accumulated thousands of dollars' worth of
property, but who, at the same time, would never
think of going to those same persons for advice
concerning the casting of their ballots. This, it
seems to me, is unwise and unreasonable, and
should cease. In saying this I do not mean that
the Negro should truckle, or not vote from princi-
ple, for the instant he ceases to vote from principle
he loses the confidence and respect of the Southern
white man even.

I do not believe that any state should make a
law that permits an ignorant and poverty-stricken
white man to vote, and prevents a black man in the
same condition from voting. Such a law is not
only unjust, but it will react, as all unjust laws do,
in time ; for the eflTect of such a law is to encourage

THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION ADDRESS 237

the Negro to secure education and property, and at
the same time it encourages the white man to re-
main in ignorance and poverty. I believe that in
time, through the operation of intelligence and
friendly race relations, all cheating at the ballot-
box in the South will cease. It will become appar-
ent that the white man who begins by cheating a
Negro out of his ballot soon learns to cheat a white
man out of his, and that the man who does this
ends his career of dishonesty by the theft of prop-
erty or by some equally serious crime. In my
opinion, the time will come when the South will
encourage all of its citizens to vote. It will see
that it pays better, from every standpoint, to have
healthy, vigorous life than to have that political
stagnation which always results when one-half of
the population has no share and no interest in the
Government.

As a rule, I believe in universal, free suffrage, -
but I believe that in the South we are confronted
with peculiar conditions that justify the protection
of the ballot in many of the states, for a while at
least, either by an educational test, a property test,
or by both combined; but whatever tests are re-
quired, they should be made to apply with equal
and exact justice to both races.

CHAPTER XV

TH£ SECRET OF SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING

AS to how my address at Atlanta was received
by the audience in the Exposition building,
'• I think I prefer to let Mr. James Creelman,
the noted war correspondent, tell. Mr. Creelman
was present, and telegraphed the following account
to the New York fVorld: —

Atlanta, September i8«

While President Cleveland was waiting at Gray Gables
to-day, to send the electric spark that started the machin-
ery of the Atlanta Exposition, a Negro Moses stood before
a great audience of white people atid delivered an oration
that marks a new epoch in the history of the South ; and
a body of Negro troops marched in a procession with the
citizen soldiery of Georgia and Louisiana. The whole city
is thrilling to-night with a realization of the extraordinary
significance of these two unprecedented events. Nothing
has happened since Henry Grady's immortal speech before
the New England society in New York that indicates so
profoundly the spirit of the New South, except, perhaps
the opening of the Exposition itself.

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 1^9

When Professor Booker T. Washington, Principal of
an industrial school for coloured people in Tuskegee, Ala
stood on the platform of the Auditorium, with the sun
shining over the heads of his auditors into his eyes, and
with his whole face lit up with the fire of prophecy, Clark
Howell, the successor of Henry Grady, said to me, '' That
man's speech is the beginning of a moral revolution in
America.'*

It is the first time that a Negro has made a speech in
the South on any important occasion before an audience
composed of white men and wotnen. It electrified the
audience, and the response was as if it had come from the
throat of a whirlwind.

Mrs. Thompson had hardly taken her seat when all eyes
Were turned on a tall tawny Negro sitting in the front row
of the platform. It was Professor Booker T. Washington,
President of the Tuskegee (Alabama) Normal and Indus-
trial Institute, who must rank frotn this time forth as the
foremost man of his race in America. Gilrtiore's Band
played the " Star-Spangled Banner," and the audience
cheered. The tune changed to " Dixie " and the audience
roared with shrill "hi^yis." .Again the music changed, this
time to " Yankee Doodle," and the clamour lessened.

All this time the eyes of the thousands present looked
straight at the Negro orator. A strange thing was to hap-
pen. A black man was to speak for his people, with none
to interrupt him. As Professor Washington strode to the
edge of the stage, the low, descending sun shot fiery rays
through the windows into his face. A great shout greeted
him. He turned his head to avoid the blinding light, and
moved about the platform for relief. Then he turned his

240 UP FROM SLAVERY

wonderful countenance to the sun without a blink of the
eyelids, and began to talk.

There was a remarkable figure ; tall, bony, straight as a
Sioux chief, high forehead, straight nose, heavy jaws, and
strong, determined mouth, with big white teeth, piercing
eyes, and a commanding manner. The sinews stood out
on his bronzed neck, and his muscular right arm swung
high in the air, with a lead-pencil grasped in the clinched
brown fist. His big feet were planted squarely, with the
heels together and the toes turned out. His voice rang
out clear and true, and he paused impressively as he made
each point. Within ten minutes the multitude was in an
uproar of enthusiasm — handkerchiefs were waved, canes
were flourished, hats were tossed in the air. The fairest
women of Georgia stood up and cheered. It was as if the
orator had bewitched them.

And when he held his dusky hand high above his head,
with the fingers stretched wide apart, and said to the white
people of the South on behalf of his race, ^^ In all things
that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers,
yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual prog-
ress," the great wave of sound dashed itself against the
walls, and the whole audience was on its feet in a delirium
of applause, and I thought at that moment of the night
when Henry Grady stood among the curling wreaths of
tobacco-smoke in Delmonico's banquet-hall and said, ^^ I
am a Cavalier among Roundheads.''

I have heard the great orators of many countries, but
not even Gladstone himself could have pleaded a cause
with more consummate power than did this angular Negro,
standing in a nimbus of sunshine, surrounded by the men

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 241

who once fought to keep his race in bondage. The roar
might swell ever so high, but the expression of his earnest
face never changed.

A ragged, ebony giant, squatted on the floor in one of
the aisles, watched the orator with burning eyes and trem-
ulous face until the supreme burst of applause came, and
then the tears ran down his face. Most of the Negroes in
the audience were crying, perhaps without knowing just
why.

At the close of the speech Governor Bullock rushed
across the stage and seized the orator's hand. Another
shout greeted this demonstration, and for a few minutK^
the two men stood facing each other, hand in hand.

So far as I could spare the time from the imme-
diate work at Tuskegee, after my Atlanta address, I
accepted some of the invitations to speak in public
which came to me, especially those that would take
me into territory where I thought it would pay to
plead the cause of my race, but I always did this
with the understanding that I was to be free to talk
about my life-work and the needs of my people.
I also had it understood that I was not to speak in
the capacity of a professional lecturer, or for mere
commercial gain.

In my efforts on the public platform I never have
been able to understand why people come to hear
me speak. This question I never can rid myself
of. Time and time again, as I have stood in the

242 UP FROM SLAVERY

street in front of a building and have seen men and
women passing in large numbers into the audience-
room where I was to speak, I have felt ashamed
that I should be the cause of people — as it seemed
to me — wasting a valuable hour of time. Some
years ago I was to deliver an address before a liter-
ary society in Madison, Wis. An hour before
the time set for me to speak, a fierce snow-storm
began, and continued for several hours. I made up
my mind that there would be no audience, and that
I should not have to speak, but, as a matter of duty,
I went to the church, and found it packed with peo-
ple. The surprise gave me a shock that I did not
recover from during the whole evening.

People often ask me if I feel nervous before
speaking, or else they suggest that, since I speak so
often, they suppose that I get used to it. In answer
to this question I have to say that I always suffer
intensely from nervousness before speaking. More
than once, just before I was to make an important
address, this nervous strain has been so great that
I have resolved never again to speak in public. I
not only feel nervous before speaking, but after I
have finished I usually feel a sense of regret, because
it seems to me as if I had left out of my address the
main thing and the best thing that I had meant to say.

There is a great compensation, though, for this

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 243

preliminary nervous suffering, that comes to me
after I have been speaking for about ten minutes,
and have come to feel that I have really mastered
my audience, and that we have gotten into full and
complete sympathy with each other. It seems to me
that there is rarely such a combination of mental and
physical delight in any effort as that which comes to
a public speaker when he feels that he has a great
audience completely within his control. There is a
thread of sympathy and oneness that connects a pub-
lic speaker with his audience, that is just as strong as
though it was something tangible and visible. If
in an audience of a thousand people there is one
person who is not in sympathy with my views, or
is inclined to be doubtful, cold, or critical, I can
pick him out. When I have found him I usually
go straight at him, and it is a great satisfaction to
watch the process of his thawing out. I find that
the most effective medicine for such individuals is
administered at first in the form of a story, although
I never tell an anecdote simply for the sake of tell-
ing one. That kind of thing, I think, is empty and
hollow, and an audience soon finds it out.

I believe that one always does himself and his
audience an injustice when he speaks merely for the
sake of speaking. I do not believe that one should
speak unless, deep down in his heart, he feels con-

244 UP FROM SLAVERY

vinced that he has a message to deliver. When
one feels, from the bottom of his feet to the top of
his head, that he has something to say that is going
to help some individual or some cause, then let him
say it ; and in delivering his message I do not
believe that many of the artificial rules of elocution
can, under such circumstances, help him very much.
Although there are certain things, such as pauses,
breathing, and pitch of voice, that are very impor-
tant, none of these can take the place of soul in an
address. When I have an address to deliver, I like
to forget all about the rules for the proper use of
the English language, and all about rhetoric and
that sort of thing, and I like to make the audience
forget all about these things, too.

Nothing tends to throw me off my balance so
quickly, when I am speaking, as to have some one
leave the room. To prevent this, I make up my
mind, as a rule, that I will try to make my address
so interesting, will try to state so many interesting
facts one after another, that no one can leave. The
average audience, I have come to believe, wants
facts rather than generalities or sermonizing. Most
people, I think, arc able to draw proper conclusions
if they are given the facts in an interesting form on
which to base them.

As to the kind of audience that I like best to

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 245

talk to, I would put at the top of the list an organi-
zation of strong, wide-awake, business men, such,
for example, as is found in Boston, New York, Chi-
cago, and Buffalo. I have found no other audience
so quick to see a point, and so responsive. Within
the last few years I have had the privilege of speak-
ing before most of the leading organizations of this
kind in the large cities of the United States. The
best time to get hold of an organization of business
men is after a good dinner, although I think that
one of the worst instruments of torture that was
ever invented is the custom which makes it neces-
sary for a speaker to sit through a fourteen-course
dinner, every minute of the time feeling sure that
his speech is going to prove a dismal failure and
disappointment.

I rarely take part in one of these long dinners
that I do not wish that I could put myself back in
the little cabin where I was a slave boy, and again
go through the experience there — one that I shall
never forget — of getting molasses to eat once a
week from the "big house." Our usual diet ou
the plantation was corn bread and pork, but on
Sunday morning my mother was permitted to bring
down a little molasses from the " big house " for her
three children, and when it was received how I did
wish that every day was Sunday ! I would get my

246 UP FROM SLAVERY

tin plate and hold it up for the sweet morsel, but 1
would always shut my eyes while the molasses was
being poured out into the plate, with the hope that
when I opened them I would be surprised to see
how much I had got. When I opened my eyes I
would tip the plate in one direction and another, so
as to make the molasses spread all over it, in the
full belief that there would be more of it and that it
would last longer if spread out in this way. So
strong are my childish impressions of those Sunday
morning feasts that it would be pretty hard for any
one to convince me that there is not more molasses
on a plate when it is spread all over the plate than
when it occupies a little corner — if there is a corner
in a plate. At any rate, I have never believed in
"cornering" syrup. My share of the syrup was
usually about two tablespoonfuls, and those two
spoonfuls of molasses were much more enjoyable to
me than is a fourteen-course dinner after which I
am to speak.

Next to a company of business men, I prefer to
speak to an audience of Southern people, of either
race, together or taken separately. Their enthusi-
asm and responsiveness are a constant delight. The
**amens" and "dat's de truf" that come spontane-
ously from the coloured individuals are calculated to
spur any speaker on to his best efforts. I think

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 247

thit next in order of preference I would place a
college audience. It has been my privilege to
ddiver addressed at many of our leading colleges,
including Harvard, Yale, Williams, Amherst, Fisk
University, the University of Pennsylvania, Welles-
ley, the University of Michigan, Trinity College in
North Carolina, and many others.

It has been a matter of deep interest to me to
note the number of people who have come to shake
hands with me after an address, who say that this
is the first time they have ever called a Negro
« Mister."

When speaking directly in the interests' of the
Tuskegee Institute, I usually arrange, some time in
advance, a series of meetings in important centres*
This takes me befdre churches, Sunday-schools,
Christian Endeavour Societies, and men's and
women's clubs* When doing this I sometimes
speak before as many as four organizations in a
single day.

Three years ago, at the suggestion of Mr. Morris
K. Jesup, of New York, and Dr. J. L. M. Curry, the
general agent of the fimd, the trustees of the John
F. Slater Fund voted a sum of money to be used
in paying the expenses of Mrs. Washington and
myself while holding a series of meetings among
the coloured people in the large centres of Negro

248 UP FROM SLAVERY

population, especially in the large cities of the
ex-slaveholding states. Each year during the last
three years we have devoted some weeks to this
work. The plan that we have followed has been
for me to speak in the morning to the ministers,
teachers, and professional men. In the afternoon
Mrs. Washington would speak to the women alone,
and in the evening I spoke to a large mass-meet*
ing. In almost every case the meetings have been
attended not only by the coloured people in large
numbers, but by the white people. In Chatta-
nooga, Tenn., for example, there was present at
the mass-meeting an audience of not less than three
thousand persons, and I was informed that eight
hundred of these were white. I have done no work
that I really enjoyed more than this, or that I think
has accomplished more good.

These meetings have given Mrs. Washington
and myself an opportunity to get first-hand, accu-
rate information as to the real condition of the race,
by seeing the people in their homes, their churches,
their Sunday-schools, and their places of work, as
well as in the prisons and dens of crime. These
meetings also gave us an opportunity to see the
relations that exist between the races. I never feel
so hopeful about the race as I do after being
engaged in a series of these meetings. I know that

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 249

such occasions there is much that comes to the
su^ace that is superficial and deceptive^ but I have
had experience enough not to be deceived by mere
signs and fleeting enthusiasms. I have taken pains
to go to the bottom of things and get facts, in a
cold, business-like manner.

I have seen the statement made lately, by one
who claims to know what he is talking about, that,
taking the whole Negro race into account, ninety
per cent of the Negro women are not virtuous.
There never was a baser falsehood uttered concern-
ing a race, or a statement made that was less capable
of being proved by actual facts.

No one can come into contact with the race for
twenty years, as I have done in the heart of the
South, without being convinced that the race is
constantly making slow but sure progress materially,
educationally, and morally. One might take up
the life of the' worst element in New York City, for
example, and prove almost anything he wanted to
prove concerning the white man, but all will agree
that this is not a fair test.

Early in the year 1897 I received a letter inviting
me to deliver an address at the dedication of the
Robert Gould Shaw monument in Boston. I ac-
cepted the invitation. It is not necessary for me,

1 am sure, to explain who Robert Gould Shaw was,

250 UP FROM SLAVERY

and what he did. The monument to his memory
dtands near the head of Boston Common, facing the
State Houfte. It id counted to be the most perfect
piece of art of the kind to be found in the country*
The exercises connected with the dedication were
held in Music Hall, in Boston, and the great hall
was packed from top to bottom with one of the
most distinguished audiences that ever assembled
in the city. Among those present there were more
persons representing the famous old anti-slavery
element than it is likely will ever be brought to-
gether in the country again. The late Hon* Roger
Wolcott, then Governor of Massachusetts, was the
presiding officer, and on the platform with him
were many other officials and hundreds of distin-
guished men. A report of the meeting which
appeared in the Boston Transcript will describe it
better than any words of mine could do : —

The core and kernel of yesiterday's gfdat noon meeting
in honour of the Brotherhood of Man, in Music Hall^ was
the superb address of the Negro President of Tuskegee.
" Booker T. Washington received his Harvard A. M. last
June, the first of his race," said Governor Wolcott, *' to
receive an honorary degree from the oldest university in
the land, and this for the wise leadership of his people.^'
When Mr. Washington rose in the flag-^filled, enthusiasm^
warmed, patriotic, and glowing atmosphere of Music Hall,

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 251

people felt keenly that here was the civic justification of
the old abolition spirit of Massachusetts ; in his person the
proof of her ancient and indomitable faith ; in bis strong
thought and rich oratory, the crown and glory of the old
war days of suffering and strife. The scene was full of
historic beauty and deep significance. ^^ Cold " Boston
was alive with the fire that is always hot in her heart for
righteousness and truth. Rows and rows of people who
are seldom seen at any public function, whole families of
those who are certain to^be out of town on a holiday,
crowded the place to overflowing. The city was at her
birthright fete in the persons of hundreds of her best
citizens, men and women whose names and lives stand for
the virtues that make for honourable civic pride.

Battle*-music had filled the air. Ovation after ovation,
applause warm and prolonged, had greeted the officers
and friends of Colonel Shaw, the sculptor, St. Gaudens,
the memorial Committee, the Governor and his staff, and
the Negro soldiers of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts as
they came upon the platform or entered the hall. Colonel
Henry Lee, of Governor Andrew's old stafiF, had made a
noble, simple presentation speech for the committee, pay-»
ing tribute to Mr. John M. Forbes, in whose stead he
served. Governor Wolcott had made his short, memora^
ble speech, saying, " Fort Wagner marked an epoch in
the history of a race, and called it into manhood." Mayor
Quincy had received the monument for the city of Boston.
The story of Colonel Shaw and his black regiment had
been told in gallant words, and then, after the singing of

Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the coming of the Lord^

252 UP FROM SLAVERY

Booker Washington arose. It was, of course, just the
moment for him. The multitude, shaken out of its usua^
symphony-concert calm, quivered with an excitement that
was not suppressed. A dozen times it had sprung to its feet
to cheer and wave and hurrah, as one person. When this
man of culture and voice and power, as well as a dark skin,
began,, and uttered the names of Stearns and of Andrew,
feeling began to mount. You could see tears glisten in
the eyes of soldiers and civilians. When the orator turned
to the coloured soldiers on the platform, to the colour-bearer
of Fort Wagner, who smilingly bore still the flag he had
never lowered even when wounded, and said, " To you, to
the scarred and scattered remnants of the Fifty-fourth,
who, with empty sleeve and wanting leg, have honoured
this occasion with your presence, to you, your commandei
is not dead. Though Boston erected no monument and
history recorded no story, in you and in the loyal race
which you represent, Robert Gould Shaw would have a
monument which time could not wear away," then came
the climax of the emotion of the day and the hour. It was
Roger Wolcott, as well as the Governor of Massachusetts,
the individual representative of the people's sympathy as
well as the chief magistrate, who had sprung first to his
feet and cried, " Three cheers to Booker T, Washington ! **

Among those on the platform was Sergeant Will-
iam H. Carney, of New Bedford, Mass., the brave
coloured officer who was the colour-bearer at Fort
Wagner and held the American flag. In spite of
the fact that a large part of his regiment was killed.

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 253

he escaped, and exclaimed, after the battle was over,
" The old flag never touched the ground/*

This flag Sergeant Carney held in his hands as
he sat on the platform, and when I turned to address
the survivors of the coloured regiment who were
present, and referred to Sergeant Carney, he rose,
as if by instinct, and raised the flag. It has been
my privilege to witness a good many satisfactory
and rather sensational demonstrations in connection
with some of my public addresses, but in dramatic
effect I have never seen or experienced anything
which equalled this. For a number of minutes the
audience seemed to entirely lose control of itself.

In the general rejoicing throughout the country
which followed the close of the Spanish-American
war, peace celebrations were arranged in several of
the large cities. I was asked by President William
R. Harper, of the University of Chicago, who was
chairman of the committee of invitations for the
celebration to be held in the city of Chicago, to
deliver one of the addresses at the celebration there.
I accepted the invitation, and delivered two addresses
there during the Jubilee week. The first of these,
and the principal one, was given in the Auditorium,
on the evening of Sunday, October 16. This was
the largest audience that I have ever addressed, in
any part of the country ; and besides speaking in

254 UP FROM SLAVERY

the main Auditorium, I also addressed, that same
evening, two overflow audiences in other parts of
the city.

It was said that there were sixteen thousand per-
sons in the Auditorium, and it seemed to me as if
there were as many more on the outside trying to
get in. It was impossible for any one to get near
the entrance without the aid of a policeman. Presi-
dent William McKinley attended this meeting, as
did also the members of his Cabinet, many foreign
ministers, and a large number of army and navy
officers, many of whom had distinguished them-
selves in the war which had just closed. The speak-
ers, besides myself, on Sunday evening, were Rabbi
Emil G. Hirsch, Father Thomas P. Hodnett, and
Dr. John H. Barrows.

The Chicago Titnes-Heraldy in describing the
meeting, said of my address : —

He pictured the Negro choosing slavery rather than ex-
tinction; recalled Crispus Attucks shedding his blood at
the beginning of the American Revolution, that white
Americans might be free, while black Americans remained
in slavery ; rehearsed the conduct of the Negroes with
Jackson at New Orleans ; drew a vivid and pathetic pic-
ture of the Southern slaves protecting and supporting the
families of their masters while the latter were fighting to
perpetuate black slavery} recounted the bravery of col-

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 255

oured troops at Port Hudson and Forts Wagner and Pil^
low, and praised the heroism of the black regiment^ tjbat
stormed El Caney and Santiago to give freedom to the
enslaved people of Cuba, forgetting, for the time being, the
unjust discrimination that law and custom make against
them in their own country.

In all of these things, the speaker declared, his race had
chosen the better part. And then he made his eloquent ap*
peal to the consciences of the white Americans: *' When you
have gotten the full story of the heroic conduct of the Negro
in the Spanish-American war, have heard it from the lips
of Northern soldier and Southern soldier, from ex-abolition*
ist and ex-masters, riien decide within yourselves whether
a race that is thus willing to die for its country should not
be given the highest opportunity to live for its country."

The part of the speech which seemed to arouse
the wildest and most sensational enthusiasm was
that in which I thanked the President for his recog-
nition of the Negro in his appointments during the
Spanish-American war. The President was sitting
in a box at the right of the stage. When I addressed
him I turned toward the box, and as I finished the
sentence thanking him for his generosity, the whole
audience rose and cheered again and again, waving
handkerchiefs and hats and canes, until the Presi-
dent arose in the box and bowed his acknowledg-
ments. At that the enthusiasm broke out again,
and the demonstration was almost indescribable.

256 UP FROM SLAVERY

One portion of my address at Chicago seemed
to have been misunderstood by the Southern press,
and some of the Southern papers took occasion to
criticise me rather strongly. These criticisms con-
tinued for several weeks, until I finally received a
letter from the editor of the Age-Herald^ published
in Birmingham, Ala., asking me if I would say just
what I meant by this part of my address. I re-
plied to him in a letter which seemed to satisfy my
critics. In this letter I said that I had made it a
rule never to say before a Northern audience any-
thing that I would not say before an audience in
the South. I said that I did not think it was
necessary for me to go into extended explanations ; if
my seventeen years of work in the heart of the
South had not been explanation enough^ I did not
see how words could explain. I said that I made
the same plea that I had made in my address at
Atlanta, for the blotting out of race prejudice in
" commercial and civil relations." I said that what
is termed social recognition was a question which
I never discussed, and then I quoted from my At-
lanta address what I had said there in regard to that
subject.

In meeting crowds of people at public gatherings,
there is one type of individual that I dread. I
mean the crank. I h^ve become so accustomed to

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 257

these people now that I can pick them out at a
distance when I see them elbowing their way up to
me. The average crank has a long beard, poorly
cared for, a lean, narrow face, and wears a black

•

coat. The front of his vest and coat are slick
with grease, and his trousers bag at the knees.

In Chicago, after I had spoken at a meeting, I
met one of these fellows. They usually have some
process for curing all of the ills of the world at once.
This Chicago specimen had a patent process by
which he said Indian corn could be kept through
a period of three or four vears, and he felt sure that
if the Negro race in the South would, as a whole,
adopt his process, it would settle the whole race
question. It mattered nothing that I tried to con-
vince him that our present problem was to teach
the Negroes how to produce enough corn to last
them through one year. Another Chicago crank
had a scheme by which he wanted me to join him
in an effort to close up all the National banks in
the country. If that was done, he felt sure it
would put the Negro on his feet.

The number of people who stand feady to con-
sume one's time, to no purpose, is almost countless.
At one time I spoke before a large audience in
Boston in the evening. The next morning I was
awakened by having a card brought to my roomi

258 UP FROM SLAVERY

and with it a message that some one was anxipus to
see me. Thinking that it must be something very
important^ I dressed hastily and went down. When
I reached the hotel office I found a blank and
innocent-looking individual waiting for me, who
coolly remarked : ^^ I heard you talk at a meeting
last night. I rather liked your talk, and so I came
in this morning to hear you talk some more."

I am often asked how it is possible for me to
superintend the work at Tuskegee and at the
same time be so much away from the school. In
partial answer to this I would say that I think I
have learned, in some degree at least, to disregard
the old maxim which says, " Do not get others tq
do that which you can do yourself." My motto,
on the other hand, is, " Do not do that which
others can do as well."

One of the most encouraging signs in connection
with the Tuskegee school is found in the feet that
the organization is so thorough that the daily work
of the school is not dependent upon the presence
of any one individual. The whole executive force,
including instructors and clerks, now numbers
eighty-six. This force is so organized and sub-
divided that the machinery of the school goes
on day by day like clockwork. Most of oui

THE SUCCESS IN ?UfiLtC St>EAKlNG 15$

tekchers Kal^d bein eonhteted with the ihstltutioh
fbr a htlnlbet* of yeafs, ihd afe as much irttertsted
in it as I am. In my absence, Mf. Warfeti Logan,

the tfeadtirtr, who has beeh at the schdol seven-
teen yeat^, h the e^tecutlve. He is efficiently suj)-
ported by Mrs* Washington, and by ttiy feithftil
secretary, Mr. Emniett J. Scott, Who handles the
bulk of^ my corf espohdence ahd keeps me ih daily
touch with the life of the school, and who alsb
keeps me informed of whatever takes place ih the
South that concet'tts the race. I owe more to his
tact| Wisdbm, and hard Work than I can describe.

The main executive work of the school, whether
I am at Tuskegde or riot, centres trt What we call
the executive council. This council meets twice a
week, and is composed of the nine persohs who are
at the head of the nine departments of the schooL
For example : Mrs* B. K. Bruce, the Lady Princi-
pal, the widow of the late ex-senator Bruce, is a
member of the council, and represents Jn it all that
pertains to the life of the girls at the school. In
addition to the executive council there Is a financial
committee of six, that meets every week and decides
upon the expenditures for the week. Once a
month, and sometimes oftener, there is a general
meeting of all the Instructors. Aside froni these
there are innumerable smaller meetings, ditch a^

26o UP FROM SLAVERY

that of the instructors In the Phelps Hall Bible
Training School, or of the instructors in the agri-
cultural department.

In order that I may keep in constant touch with
the life of the institution, I have a system of reports
so arranged that a record of the school's work
reaches me every day in the year, no matter in
what part of the country I am. I know by these
reports even what students are excused from school,
and why they are excused — whether for reasons of
ill health or otherwise. Through the medium
of these reports I know each day what the income
of the school in money is; I know how many
gallons of milk and how many pounds of butter
come from the dairy ; what the bill of fare for the
teachers and students is; whether a certain kind
of meat was boiled or baked, and whether certain
vegetables served in the dining room were bought
from a store or procured from our own farm.
Human nature I find to be very much the same the
world over, and it is sometimes not hard to yield
to the temptation to go to a barrel of rice that has
come from the store — with the grain all prepared
to go into the pot — rather than to take the time
and trouble to go to the field and dig and wash
one's own sweet potatoes, which might be prepared
in a manner to take the place of the rice.

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 261

I am often asked how, in the midst of so much
work, a large part of which is before the public, I
can find time for any rest or recreation, and what
kind of recreation or sports I am fond of. This is
rather a difficult question to answer. I have a strong
feeling that every individual owes it to himself, and
to the cause which he is serving, to keep a vigorous,
healthy body, with the nerves steady and strong,
prepared for great efforts and prepared for disap-
pointments and trying positions. As far as I can,
I make it a rule to plan for each day's work — not
merely to go through with the same routine of daily
duties, but to get rid of the routine work as early
In the day as possible, and then to enter upon some
new or advance work. I make it a rule to clear
my desk every day, before leaving my office, of all
correspondence and memoranda, so that on the
morrow I can begin a new day of work. I make
it a rule never to let my work drive me, but to so
master it, and keep it in such complete control, and
to keep so far ahead of it, that I will be the master
instead of the servant. There is a physical and
mental and spiritual enjoyment that comes from a
consciousness of being the absolute master of one's
work, in all its details, that is very satisfactory and
inspiring. My experience teaches me that, if one
learns to follow this plan, he gets a freshness of

161 UP PROM SLAVfiRY

body and vigour of mind Otit t( work that goeft a
long y^tj toward keeping him strong and healthy.
I believe that wheti one can grow to the point where
he loves hl$ work, this gives him A kind of strength
that is most valuable.

When I begin my work in the morning, I eiepect
to have a successful atid pleasatit day of it, but at
the same time I prepare myself for unpleasant and
uncjtpected hard places* I prepare myself to hear
that one of our school builditigs is 6h fire, dr has
burned, or that some disagreeable accident has oc^
curred, or that some one has abused me in a public
address or printed article, for something that I have
done or omitted to do, or for something thit he had
heard that I had said — probably something that
1 had never thought of saying*

In nineteen years of eontinuous Work I have taken
but one vacation. That Was two years ago, when
some of my friends put the money into my hands
and forced Mrs. Washington and myself to spend
three months in Europe. I have said that I believe
it is the duty of every one to keep his body in good
condition. I try to look after the little ills, with
the idea that if I take care of the little ills the big
ones will not come. When 1 find myself unable
to sleep well, I know that something is wrong* If
1 find any part of my system the lei^t weakj and

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 263

not performing its duty, I consult a good physician.
The ability to sleep well, at any time and in any
place, I find of great advantage. I have so trained
myself that I can lie down for a nap of fifteen or
twenty minutes, and get up refreshed in body and
mind.

I have said that I make it a rule to finish up each
day's work before leaving it. There is, perhaps, one
exception to this. When I have an unusually diffi-
cult question to decide — one that appeals strongly
to the emotions — I find it a safe rule to sleep over
it for a night, or to wait until I have had an oppor-
tunity to talk it over with my wife and friends.

As to my reading ; the most time I get for solid
reading is when I am on the cars. Newspapers are
to me a constant source of delight and recreation.
The only trouble is that I read too many of them.
Fiction I care little for. Frequently I have to al-
most force myself to read a novel that is on every
one's lips. The kind of reading that I have the
greatest fondness for is biography. I like to be
sure that I am reading about a real man or a real
thing. I think I do not go too far when I say that
I have read nearly every book and magazine article
that has been written about Abraham Lincoln. In
literature he is my patron saint.

Out of the twelve months in a year I suppose

264 UP FROM SLAVERY

that^ on an average, I spend six months away from
Tuskegee. While my being absent from the school
so much unquestionably has its disadvantages, yet
there are at the same time some compensations.
The change of work brings a certain kind of rest.
I enjoy a ride of a long distance on the cars, when I
am permitted to ride where I can be comfortable.
I get rest on the cars, except when the inevitable
individual who seems to be on every train approaches
me with the now familiar phrase : " Isn't this Booker
Washington ? I want to introduce myself to you."
Absence from the school enables me to lose sight
of the unimportant details of the work, and study
it in a broader and more comprehensive manner
than I could do on the grounds. This absence
also brings me into contact with the best work being
done in educational lines, and into contact with the
best educators in the land.

But, after all this is said, the time when I get the
most solid rest and recreation is when I can be at
Tuskegee, and, after our evening meal is over, can
sit down, as is our custom, with my wife and Portia
and Baker and Davidson, my three children, and
read a story, or each take turns in telling a story.
To me there is nothing on earth equal to that, al-
though what is nearly equal to it is to go with them
for an hour or more, as we like to do on Sunday

THE SUCCESS IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 265

afternoons, into the woods, where we can live for a
while near the heart of nature, where no one can
disturb or vex us, surrounded by pure air, the trees,
the shrubbery, the flowers, and the sweet fragrance
that springs from a hundred plants, enjoying the
chirp of the crickets and the songs of the birds.
This is solid rest.

My garden, also, what little time I can be at
Tuskegee, is another source of rest and enjoyment.
Somehow I like, as often as possible, to touch na-
ture, not something that is artificial or an imitation,
but the real thing. When I can leave my office in
time so that I can spend thirty or forty minutes in
spading the ground, in planting seeds, in digging
about the plants, I feel that I am coming into con-
tact with something that is giving me strength for
the many duties and hard places that await me out
in the big world. I pity the man or woman who
has never learned to enjoy nature and to get strength
and inspiration out of it.

Aside from the large number of fowls and ani-
mals kept by the school, I keep individually a num-
ber of pigs and fowls of the best grades, and in
raising these I take a great deal of pleasure. I
think the pig is my favourite animal. Few things
are more satisfactory to me than a high-grade Berk-
shire or Poland China pig.

266 UP FROM SLAVERY

Games I care little for. I have never seen a
game of football. In cards I do not know one
card from another. A game of old-fashioned mar-
bles with my two boys, once in a while, is all I care
for in this direction. I suppose I would care for
games now if I had had any time in my youth to
give to them, but that was not possible.

CHAPTER XVI
Europe

IN i 893 I was married to Miss Margaret James
Murray, a native of Mississippi, and a gradu-
ate of Fisk University, in Nashville, Tenn.,
who had come to Tuskegee as a teacher several
years before, and at the time we were married was
filling the position of Lady Principal. Not only is
Mrs. Washington completely one with me in the
work directly connected with the school, relieving
me of many burdens and perplexities, but aside
from her work on the school grounds, she carries
on a mothers' meeting in the town of Tuskegee,
and a plantation work among the women, children,
and men who live in a settlement connected with a
large plantation about eight miles from Tuskegee.
Both the mothers' meeting and the plantation work
are carried on, not only with a view to helping
those who are directly reached, but also for the
purpose of furnishing object-lessons in these two
kinds of work that may be followed by our

267

268 UP FROM SLAVERY

students when they go out Into the world for their
own life-work.

Aside from these two enterprises, Mrs. Washing-
ton is also largely responsible for a woman's club at
the school which brings together, twice a month,
the women who live on the school grounds and
those who live near, for the discussion of some
important topic. She is also the President of what
is known as the Federation of Southern Coloured
Women's Clubs, and is Chairman of the Execu-
tive Committee of the National Federation of Col-
oured Women's Clubs.

Portia, the oldest of my three children, has
learned dressmaking. She has unusual ability in
instrumental music. Aside from her studies at
Tuskegee, she has already begun to teach there.

Booker Taliaferro is my next oldest child. Young
as he is, he has already nearly mastered the brick-
mason's trade. He began working at this trade
when he was quite small, dividing his time between
this and class work; and he has developed great
skill in the trade and a fondness for it. He says
that he is going to be an architect and brickmason.
One of the most satisfactory letters that I have ever
received from any one came to me from Booker last
summer. When I left home for the summer, I told
him that he must work at his trade half of each day,

EUROPE 269

and that the other half of the day he could spend
as he pleased. When I had been away from home
two weeks, I received the following letter from him:

TusKEGEE, Alabama.

My dear Papa : Before you left home you told me to

work at my trade half of each day. I like my work so

much that I want to work at my trade all day. Besides, I

want to earn all the money I can, so that when I go to

another school I shall have money to pay my expenses.

Your son,

Booker.

My youngest child, Ernest Davidson Washing-
ton, says that he is going to be a physician. In
addition to going to school, where he studies books
and has manual training, he regularly spends a
portion of his time in the office of our resident
physician, and has already learned to do many of
the duties which pertain to a doctor's office.

The thing in my life which brings me the keenest
regret is that my work in connection with public
affairs keeps me for so much of the time away from
my family, where, of all places in the world, I de-
light to be. I always envy the individual whose
life-work is so laid that he can spend his evenings
at home. I have sometimes thought that people
who have this rare privilege do not appreciate it as

270 UP FROM SLAVERY

they should. It is such a rest and relief to get
away from crowds of people, and handshaking, and
travelling, and get home, even if it be for but a very
brief while.

Another thing at Tuskegee out of which I get
a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction is in the
meeting with our students, and teachers, and their
families, in the chapel for devotional exercises every
evening at half-past eight, the last thing before
retiring for the night. It is an inspiring sight when
one stands on the platform there and sees before
him eleven or twelve hundred earnest young men
and women ; and one cannot but feel that it is a
privilege to help to guide them to a higher and
more useful life.

In the spring of 1899 there came to me what I
might describe as almost the greatest surprise of
my life. Some good ladies in Boston arranged a
public meeting in the interests of Tuskegee, to be
held in the Hollis Street Theatre. This meeting
was attended by large numbers of the best people of
Boston, of both races. Bishop Lawrence presided.
In addition to an address made by myself, Mr.
Paul Lawrence Dunbar read from his poems, and
Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois read an original sketch.

Some of those who attended this meeting noticed
that I seemed unusually tired, and some little time

EUROPE 271

after the close of the meeting, one of the ladies who
had been interested in it asked me in a casual way
if I had ever been to Europe. I replied that I
never had. She asked me if I had ever thought
of going, and I told her no ; that it was something
entirely beyond me. This conversation soon passed
out of my mind, but a few days afterward I was
informed that some friends in Boston, including
Mr. Francis J. Garrison, had raised a sum of money
sufficient to pay all the expenses of Mrs. Washing-
ton and myself during a three or four months' trip
to Europe. It was added with emphasis that we
must go. A year previous to this Mr. Garrison
had attempted to get me to promise to go to
Europe for a summer's rest, with the understanding
that he would be responsible for raising the money
among his friends for the expenses of the trip. At
that time such a journey seemed so entirely foreign
to anything that I should ever be able to undertake
that I confess I did not give the matter very seri-
ous attention; but later Mr. Garrison joined his
efforts to those of the ladies whom I have men-
tioned, and when their plans were made known to
me Mr. Garrison not only had the route mapped
out, but had, I believe, selected the steamer upon
which we were to sail.

The whole thing was so sudden and so unex-

272 UP FROM SLAVERY

pected that I was completely taken off my feet.
I had been at work steadily for eighteen years in
connection with Tuskegee, and I had never thought
of anything else but ending my life in that way.
Each day the school seemed to depend upon me
more largely for its daily expenses, and I told these
Boston friends that, while I thanked them sincerely
for their thoughtfiilness and generosity, I could
not go to Europe, for the reason that the school
could not live financially while I was absent. They
then informed me that Mr. Henry L. Higginson,
and some other good friends who I know do not
want their names made public, were then raising a
sum of money which would be sufficient to keep
the school in operation while I was away. At this
point I was compelled to surrender. Every avenue
of escape had been closed.

Deep down in my heart the whole thing seemed
more like a dream than like reality, and for a long
time it was difficult for me to make myself believe
that I was actually going to Europe. I had been
born and largely reared in the lowest depths of
slavery, ignorance, and poverty. In my childhood
I had suffered for want of a place to sleep, for lack
of^ food, clothing, and shelter. I had not had the
privilege of sitting down to a dining-table until I was
quite well grown. Luxuries had always seemed to

EUROPE 273

me to be something meant for white people, not for
my race. I had always regarded Europe, and Lon-
don, and Paris, much as I regard heaven. And now
could It be that I was actually going to Europe?
Such thoughts as these were constantly with me.

Two other thoughts troubled me a good deal.
I feared that people who heard that Mrs. Washing-
ton and I were going to Europe might not know
all the circumstances, and might get the idea that
we had become, as some might say, "stuck up,"
and were trying to "show off." I recalled that from
my youth I had heard it said that too often, when
people of my race reached any degree of success,
they were inclined to unduly exalt themselves ; to
try and ape the wealthy, and in so doing to lose
their heads. The fear that people might think
this of us haunted me a good deal. Then, too,
I could not see how my conscience would permit
me to spare the time from my work and be happy.
It seemed mean and selfish in me to be taking a
vacation while others were at work, and while there
was so much that needed to be done. From the
time I could remember, I had always been at work,
and I did not see how I could spend three or four
months in doing nothing. The fact was that I did
not know how to take a vacation.

Mrs. Washington had much the same difficulty

274 UP FROM SLAVERY

in getting away, but she was anxious to go because
she thought that I needed the rest. There were
many important National questions bearing upon
the life of the race which were being agitated at that
time, and this made it all the harder for us to decide
to go. We finally gave our Boston friends our
promise that we would go, and then they insisted
that the date of our departure be set as soon as
possible. So we decided upon May lo. My
good friend Mr. Garrison kindly took charge of
all the details necessary for the success of the trip,
and he, as well as other friends, gave us a great
number of letters of introduction to people in
France and England, and made other arrange-
ments for our comfort and convenience abroad.
Good-bys were said at Tuskegee, and we were in
New York May 9, ready to sail the next day. Our
daughter Portia, who was then studying in South
Framingham, Mass., came to New York to see us
off. Mr. Scott, my secretary, came with me to
New York, in order that I might clear up the last
bit of business before I left. Other friends also
came to New York to see us off. Just before we
went on board the steamer another pleasant sur-
prise came to us in the form of a letter from two
generous ladies, stating that they had decided to
give us the money with which to erect a new build'

EUROPE 275

ing to be used in properly housing all our indus-
tries for girls at Tuskegee.

We were to sail on the Friesland, of the Red
Star Line, and a beautiful vessel she was. We
went on board just before noon, the hour of sail-
ing. I had never before been on board a large
ocean steamer, and the feeling which took posses-
sion of me when I found myself there is rather
hard to describe. It was a feeling, I think, of
awe mingled with delight. We were agreeably
surprised to find that the captain, as well as several
of the other officers, not only knew who we were,
but was expecting us and gave us a pleasant greet-
ing. There were several passengers whom we
knew, including Senator Sewell, of New Jersey, and
Edward Marshall, the newspaper correspondent.
I had just a little fear that we would not be treated
civilly by some of the passengers. This fear was
based upon what I had heard other people of my
race, who had crossed the ocean, say about un-
pleasant experiences in crossing the ocean in Ameri-
can vessels. But in our case, from the captain
down to the most humble servant, we were treated
with the greatest kindness. Nor was this kindness
confined to those who were connected with the
steamer; It was shown by all the passengers also.
There were not a few Southern men and women

276 UP FROM SLAVERY

on board, and they were as cordial as those from
other parts of the country.

As soon as the last good-bys were said, and
the steamer had cut loose from the wharf, the load
of care, anxiety, and responsibility which I had
carried for eighteen years began to lift itself from
my shoulders at the rate, it seemed to me, of a
pound a minute. It was the first time in all those
years that I had felt, even in a measure, free from
care ; and my feeling of relief it is hard to describe
on paper. Added to this was the delightful antici-
pation of being in Europe soon. It all seemed
more like a dream than like a reality.

Mr. Garrison had thoughtfully arranged to have
us have one of the most comfortable rooms on the
ship. The second or third day out I began to
sleep, and I think that I slept at the rate of fifteen
hours a day during the remainder of the ten days*
passage. Then it was that I began to understand
how tired I really was. These long sleeps I kept
up for a month after we landed on the other side.
It was such an unusual feeling to wake up in the
morning and realize that I had no engagements ;
did not have to take a train at a certain hour ;
did not have an appointment to meet some one,
or to make an address, at a certain hour. How
different all this was from some of the experiences

EUROPE 277

that I have been through when travelling, when I
have sometimes slept in three different beds in
. a single night !

When Sunday came, the captain invited me to
conduct the religious services, but, not being a
minister, I declined. The passengers, however,
began making requests that I deliver an address
to them in the dining-saloon some time during
the voyage, and this I consented to do. Senator
Sewell presided at this meeting. After ten days
of delightful weather, during which I was not sea-
sick for a day, we landed at the interesting old city
of Antwerp, in Belgium.

The next day after we landed happened to be one of
those numberless holidays which the people of those
countries are in the habit of observing. It was a
bright, beautiful day. Our room in the hotel faced
the main public square, and the sights there — the
people coming in from the country with all kinds
of beautiful flowers to sell, the women coming in
with their dogs drawing large, brightly polished cans
filled with milk, the people streaming into the
cathedral — filled me with a sense of newness that
I had never before experienced.

After spending some time in Antwerp, we were
invited to go with a party of a half-dozen persons
on a trip through Holland. This party included

278 UP FROM SLAVERY

Edward Marshall and some American artists who
had come over on the same steamer with us. We
accepted the invitation, and enjoyed the trip greatly.
I think it was all the more interesting and instruc-
tive because we went for most of the way on one of
the slow, old-fashioned canal-boats. This gave us
an opportunity of seeing and studying the real life
of the people in the country districts. We went in
this way as far as Rotterdam, and later went to The
Hague, where the Peace Conference was then in
session, and where we were kindly received by the
American representatives.

The thing that impressed itself most on me in
Holland was the thoroughness of the agriculture and
the excellence of the Holstein cattle. I never
knew, before visiting Holland, how much it was
possible for people to get out of a small plot of
ground. It seemed to me that absolutely no land
was wasted. It was worth a trip to Holland, too,
just to get a sight of three or four hundred fine
Holstein cows grazing in one of those intensely
green fields.

From Holland we went to Belgium, and made a
hasty trip through that country, stopping at Brus-
sels, where we visited the battlefield of Waterloo.
From Belgium we went direct to Paris, where we
found that Mr. Theodore Stanton, the son of Mrs.

EUROPE 279

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, had kindly provided ac-^
commodations for us. We had barely got settled
in Paris before an invitation came to me from the
University Club of Paris to be its guest at a ban-
quet which was soon to be givpn. The other guests
were ex-President Benjamin Harrison and Arch-
bishop Ireland, who were in Paris at the time.
The American Ambassador, General Horace Por-
ter, presided at the banquet. My address on this
occasion seemed to give satisfaction to those who
heard it. General Harrison kindly devoted a
large portion of his remarks at dinner to myself
and to the influence of the work at Tuskegee on
the American race question. After my address at
this banquet other invitations came to me, but I
declined the most of them, knowing that if I
accepted them all, the object of my visit would be
defeated. I did, however, consent to deliver an
address in the American chapel the following Sun-
day morning, and at this meeting General Harrison,
General Porter, and other distinguished Americans
were present.

Later we received a formal call from the Ameri-
can Ambassador, and were invited to attend a
reception at his residence. At this reception we
met many Americans, among them Justices Fuller
and Harlan, of the United States Supreme Court.

28o UP FROM SLAVERY

During our entire stay of a month in Paris, both
the American Ambassador and his wife, as well as
several other Americans, were very kind to us.

While in Paris we saw a good deal of the now
famous American Negro pdnter, Mr. Henry O.
Tanner, whom we had formerly known in Amer-
ica. It was very satisfactory to find how well
known Mr. Tanner was in the field of art, and to
note the high standing which all classes accorded to
him. When we told some Americans that we were
going to the Luxembourg Palace to see a painting
by an American Negro, it was hard to convince
them that a Negro had been thus honoured. I do
not believe that they were really convinced of the
fact until they saw the picture for themselves. My
acquaintance with Mr. Tanner reenforced in my
mind the truth which I am constantly trying to
impress upon our students at Tuskegee — and on our
people throughout the country, as far as I can reach
them with my voice — that any man, regardless of
colour, will be recognized and rewarded just in pro-
portion as he learns to do something well — learns
to do it better than some one else — however hum-
ble the thing may be. As I have said, I believe
that my race will succeed in proportion as it learns
to do a common thing in an uncommon manner ;
learns to do a thing so thoroughly that no one can

EUROPE 281

improve upon what it has done; learns to make
its services of indispensable value. This was the
spirit that inspired me in my first effort at Hampton,
when I was given the opportunity to sweep and dust
that schoolroom. In a degree I felt that my whole
future life depended upon the thoroughness with
which I cleaned that room, and I was determined
to do it so well that no one could find any fault
with the job. Few people ever stopped, I found,
when looking at his pictures, to inquire whether Mr.
Tanner was a Negro painter, a French painter, or a
German painter. They simply knew that he was
able to produce something which the world wanted
— a great painting — and the matter of his colour
did not enter into their minds. When a Negro
girl learns to cook, to wash dishes, to sew, to write
a book, or a Negro boy learns to groom horses, or
to grow sweet potatoes, or to produce butter, or to
build a house, or to be able to practise medicine, as
well or better than some one else, they will be re-
warded regardless of race or colour. In the long
run, the world is going to have the best, and any
difference in race, religion, or previous history will
not long keep the world from what it wants.

I think that the whole future of my race hinges
on the question as to whether or not it can make
itself of such indispensable value that the people in

ziz UP FROM SLAVERY

the town and the state where we reside will feel
that our presence is necessary to the happiness and
well-being of the community. No man who con-
tinues to add something to the material, intellectual,
and moral well-being of the place in which he lives
is long left without proper reward. This is a great
human law which cannot be permanently nullified.

The love of pleasure and excitement which seems
in a large measure to possess the French people im-
pressed itself upon me. I think they are more
noted in this respect than is true of the people
of my own race. In point of morality and moral
earnestness I do not believe that the French are
ahead of my own race in America. Severe com-
petition and the great stress of life have led them
to learn to do things more thoroughly and to exer-
cise greater economy ; but time, I think, will bring
my race to the same point. In the matter of truth
and high honour I do not believe that the average
Frenchman is ahead of the American Negro ; while
so far as mercy and kindness to dumb animals go,
I believe that my race is far ahead. In fact, when
I left France, I had more faith in the future of the
black man in America than I had ever possessed.

From Paris we went to London, and reached
there early in July, just about the height of the
London social season. Parliament was in session.

EUROPE 283

and there was a great deal of gaiety. Mr. Garri-
son and other friends had provided us with a large
number of letters of introduction, and they had
also sent letters to other persons in different parts
of the United Kingdom, apprising these people of
our coming. Very soon after reaching London we
were flooded with invitations to attend all manner
of social functions, and a great many invitations
came to me asking that I deliver public addresses.
The most of these invitations I declined, for the
reason that I wanted to rest. Neither were we able
to accept more than a small proportion of the other
invitations. The Rev. Dr. Brooke Herford and
Mrs. Herford, whom I had known in Boston, con-
sulted with the American Ambassador, the Hon.
Joseph Choate, and arranged for me to speak at
a public meeting to be held in Essex Hall. Mr.
Choate kindly consented to preside. The meeting
was largely attended. There were many distin-
guished persons present, among them several mem^
bers of Parliament, including Mr. James Bryce, who
spoke at the meeting. What the American Ambas-
sador said in introducing me, as well as a synopsis
of what I said, was widely published in England and
in the American papers at the time. Dr. and Mrs.
Herford gave Mrs. Washington and myself a recep-
tion, at which we had the privilege of meeting some

284 UP FROM SLAVERY

of the best people in England. Throughout our
stay in London Ambassador Choate was most kind
and attentive to us. At the Ambassador's reception
I met, for the first time, Mark Twain.

We were the guests several times of Mrs. T.
Fisher Unwin, the daughter of the English states-
man, Richard Cobden. It seemed as if both Mr.
and Mrs. Unwin could not do enough for our com-
fort and happiness. Later, for nearly a week, we
were the guests of the daughter of John Bright,
now Mrs. Clark, of Street, England. Both Mr.
and Mrs. Clark, with their daughter, visited us at
Tuskegee the next year. In Birmingham, Eng-
land, we were the guests for several days of Mr.
Joseph Sturge, whose father was a great abolitionist
and friend of Whittier and Garrison. It was a
great privilege to meet throughout England those
who had known and honoured the late William
Lloyd Garrison, the Hon. Frederick Douglass,
and other abolitionists. The English abolitionists
with whom we came in contact never seemed to
tire of talking about these two Americans. Before
going to England I had had no proper conception
of the deep interest displayed by the abolitionists of
England in the cause of freedom, nor did I realize
the amount of substantial help given by them.

In Bristol, England, both Mrs. Washington and

EUROPE 285

I spoke at the Women's Liberal Club. I was also
the principal speaker at the Commencement exer-
cises of the Royal College for the Blind. These
exercises were held in the Crystal Palace, and the
presiding officer was the late Duke of Westminster,
who was said to be, I believe, the richest man in
England, if not in the world. The Duke, as
well as his wife and their daughter, seemed to be
pleased with what I said, and thanked me heartily.
Through the kindness of Lady Aberdeen, my wife
and I were enabled to go with a party of those
who were attending the International .Congress of
Women, then in session in London, to see Queen
Victoria, at Windsor Castle, where, afterward, we
were all the guests of her Majesty at tea. In our
party was Miss Susan B. Anthony, and I was
deeply impressed with the fact that one did not
often get an opportunity to see, during the same
hour, two women so remarkable in different ways
as Susan B. Anthony and Queen Victoria.

In the House of Commons, which we visited
several times, we met Sir Henry. M. Stanley. I
talked with him about Africa and its relation to the
American Negro, and after my interview with him
I became more convinced than ever that there was
no hope of the American Negro's improving his
condition by emigrating to Africa*

286 UP FROM SLAVERY

On various occasions Mts. Washiiigtbn and I
were the guests* of Englishmen in their country
homes, where, I think, one sees the Englishman at
his best. In one thing, at least, I feel sure that the
English are ahead of Americans, and that is, that
they have learned how to get more out of life.
The home life of the English seems to me to be
about as perfect as anything can be. Everything
moves like clockwork. I was impressed, too, with
the deference that the servants show to their ** mas-
tet-s** and "mistresses,'* — terms which I suppose
would not be tolerated in America. The English
servant expects, as a nlle, to be nothing but a ser-
vant, and so he perfects himself in the art to a
degree that no class of servants in America has yet
reached. In our country the servant expects to
become, in a few years, a "master** himself.
Which system is preferable? I will not venture
an answer.

Another thing that impressed itself upon me
throughout England was the high regard that all
classes have for law and order, and the ease and
thoroughness with which everything is done. The
Englishmen, I found, took plenty of time for eat-
ing, as for everything else. I am not sure if, in the
long run, they do hot accomplish as much or more
than rushing, nervous Americans do.

EUROPE aS;

My visit to England gave me a higher regard for
the nobility than I had had. I had no idea that
they were so generally loved and respected by the
massesj nor had I any correct conception of how
much time and money they spent in works of
philanthropy, and how much real heart they put
into this work. My impression had been that
they merely spent money freely and had a " good
time.'*

It was hard for me to get accustomed to speak-
ing to English audiences. The average English-
man is so serious, and is so tremendously in earnest
about everything, that when I told a story that
would have made an American audience roar with
laughter, the Englishmen simply looked me straight
in the face without even cracking a smile.

When the Englishman takes you into his heart
and friendship, he binds you there as with cords of
steel, and I do not believe that there are many other
friendships that are so ksting or so satisfactory.
Perhaps I can illustrate this point in no better
way than by relating the following incident. Mrs.
Washington and I were invited to attend a recep-
tion given by the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland,
at Stafford House — said to be the finest house in
London ; I may add that I believe the Duchess of
Sutherland is said to be the most beautiful woman

288 UP FROM SLAVERY

in England. There must have been at least three
hundred persons at this reception. Twice during
the evening the Duchess sought us out for a con-
versation, and she asked me to write her when we
got home, and tell her more about the work at
Tuskegee. This I did. When Christmas came
we were surprised and delighted to receive her
photograph with her autograph on it. The corre-
spondence has continued, and we now feel that in
the Duchess of Sutherland we have one of our
warmest friends.

After three months in Europe we sailed from
Southampton in the steamship St. Louis. On this
steamer there was a fine library that had been pre-
sented to the ship by the citizens of St. Louis,
Mo. In this library I found a life of Freder-
ick Douglass, which I began reading. I became
especially interested in Mr. Douglasses description
of the way he was treated on shipboard during his
first or second visit to England. In this descrip-
tion he told how he was not permitted to enter the
cabin, but had to confine himself to the deck of the
ship. A few minutes after I had finished reading
this description I was waited on by a committee of
ladies and gentlemen with the request that I deliver
an address at a concert which was to be given the
following evening. And yet there are people who

EUROPE 289

are bold enough to say that race feeling in America
is not growing less intense! At this concert the
Hon. Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., the present governor
of New York, presided. I was never given a more
cordial hearing anywhere. A large proportion of the
passengers were Southern people. After the concert
some of the passengers proposed that a subscription
be raised to help the work at Tuskegee, and the
money to support several scholarships was the result.
While we were in Paris I was very pleasantly
surprised to receive the following invitation from
the citizens of West Virginia and of the city near
which I had spent my boyhood days : —

Charleston, W. Va., May 16, 1899.

Professor Booker T. Washington, Paris, France :

Dear Sir : Many of the best citizens of West Vir-
ginia have united in liberal expressions of admiration and
praise of your worth and work, and desire that on your
return from Europe you should favour them with your pres-
ence and with the inspiration of your words. We most
sincerely indorse this move, and on behalf of the citizens
of Charleston extend to you our most cordial invitation to
have you come to us, that we may honour you who have
done so much by your life and work to honour us.

We are. Very truly yours.

The Common Council of the City of Charleston,

By W. Herman Smith, Mayor.

ago UP FROM SLAVERY

This invitation from the City Council of Charleston
was accompanied by the following : —

Professor Booker T, Washington, Paris, France:

Dear Sir : We, the citizens of Charleston and West
Virginia, desire to express our pride in you and the splen*
did career that you have thus far accomplished, and ask
that we be permitted to show our pride and interest in a
substantial way.

Your recent visit to your old home in our midst awoke
within us the keenest regret that we were not permitted to
hear you and render some substantial aid to your work,
before you left for Europe.

In view of the foregoing, we earnestly invite you to
share the hospitality of our city upon your return from
Europe, and give us the opportunity to hear you and put
ourselves in touch with your work in a way that will be
most gratifying to yourself, and that we may receive the
inspiration of your words and presence*

An early reply to this invitation, with an indication of
the time you may reach our city, will greatly oblige.

Yours veiy respectfully.

The Charleston Dai/y Gazette, The Dat7j Matt-
Tribune; G. W. Atkinson, Governor; £. L. Boggs,
Secretary to Governor; Wm, M. O, Dftwson^
Secretary of State ; L. M, La FoUette, Auditor \
J, R. Trotter, Superintendent of Schools ; E. W. Wil-
son, ex-Governor ; W. A. MacCorkle, ex-Govcmor ;
John Q. Dickinson, President Kanawha Valley Bank ;
L. Prichard, President Charleston National Bank ;
Geo. S. Couch, President Kanawha National Bank|

EUROPE 291

Ed. Reid, Cashier Kanawha National Bank ; Geo.
S. Laidley» Superintendent City Schools ; L. E. Mc*
Whorter» President Board of Education ; Chas. K«
Payne, wholesale merchant ; and many others.

This invitation, coming as it did from the City
Council, the state officers, and all the substantial
citizens of both races of the community where I
had spent my boyhood, and from which I had gone
a few years before, unknown, in poverty and igno-
rance, in quest of an education, not only surprised
me, but almost unmanned me. I could not under-
stand what I had done to deserve it all.

I accepted the invitation, and at the appointed
day was met at the railway station at Charleston by
a committee headed by ex-Governor W. A. Mac-
Corkle, and composed of men of both races. The
public reception was held in the Opera-House at
Charleston. The Governor of the state, the Hon.
George W. Atkinson, presided, and an address of
welcome was made by ex-Governor MacCorkle. A
prominent part in the reception was taken by the
coloured citizens. The Opera-House was filled with
citizens of both races, and among the white people
were many for whom I had worked when a boy.
The next day Governor and Mrs. Atkinson gave
me a public reception at the State House^ which
was attended by all classes.

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Not long after this the coloured people in Atlanta,
Georgia, gave me a reception at which the Governor
of the state presided, and a similar reception was
given me in New Orleans, which was presided over
by the Mayor of the city. Invitations came from
many other places which I was not able to accept.

CHAPTER XVII

LAST WORDS

BEFORE going to Europe some events came
into my life which were great surprises to
me. In fact, my whole life has largely been
one of surprises. I believe that any man's life will
be filled with constant, unexpected encouragements
of this kind if he makes up his mind to do his
level best each day of his life — that is, tries to
make each day reach as nearly as possible the high-
water mark of pure, unselfish, useful living. I pity
the man, black or white, who has never experienced
the joy and satisfaction that come to one by reason
of an effort to assist in making some one else more
useful and more happy.

Six months before he died, and nearly a year
after he had been stricken with paralysis. General
Armstrong expressed a wish to visit Tuskegee
again before he passed away. Notwithstanding the
fact that he had lost the use of his limbs to such
an extent that he was practically helpless, his wish
was gratified, and he was brought to Tuskegee.

»95

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The owners of the Tuskegee Railroad, white men
living in the town, ofFered to run a special train,
without cost, out to the main station — Chehaw,
five miles away — to meet him. He arrived on
the school grounds about nine o'clock in the even-
ing. Some one had suggested that we give the
General a " pine-knot torchlight reception." This
plan was carried out, and the moment that his
carriage entered the school grounds he began pass-
ing between two lines of lighted and waving "fat
pine " wood knots held by over a thousand students
and teachers. The whole thing was so novel and
surprising that the General was completely over-
come with happiness. He remained a guest in
my home for nearly two months, and, although
almost wholly without the use of voice or limb,
he spent nearly every hour in devising ways and
means to help the South. Time and time again
he said to me, during this visit, that it was not
only the duty of the country to assist in elevating
the Negro of the South, but the poor white man
as well. At the end of his visit I resolved anew
to devote myself more earnestly than ever to the
cause which was so near his heart. I said that if
a man in his condition was willing to think, worki
and act, I should not be wanting in furthering in
every possible way the wish of his heart.

LAST WORDS 295

The death of General Armstrong, a few weeks
later, gave me the privilege of getting acquainted
with one of the finest, most unselfish, and most
attractive men that I have ever come in contact
with. I refer to the Rev. Dr. HoUis B. Frissell,
now the Principal of the Hampton Institute, and
General Armstrong's successor. Under the clear,
strong, and almost perfect leadership of Dr. Frissell,
Hampton has had a career of prosperity and useful-
ness that is all that the General could have wished
for. It seems to be the constant effort of Dr.
Frissell to hide his own great personality behind
that of General Armstrong — to make himself of
" no reputation " for the sake of the cause.

More than once I have been asked what was
the greatest surprise that ever came to me. I
have little hesitation in answering that question.
It was the following letter, which came to me
one Sunday morning when I was sitting on the
veranda of my home at Tuskegee, surrounded by
my wife and three children : —

Harvard UNivERsmr, Cambridge^ May 28,1896.
President Booker T. Washington,

My Dear Sir : Harvard University desires to confer on
you at the approaching Commencement an honorary degree }
but it is our custom to confer degrees only on gentlemen
who are present. Our Commencement occurs this yeaf

296 UP FROM SLAVERY

on June 24, and your presence would be desirable from
about noon till about five o'clock in the afternoon. Would
it be possible for you to be in Cambridge on that day ?
Believe me, with great regard.

Very truly yours,

Charles W, Eliot.

This was a* recognition that had never in the
slightest manner entered into my mind, and it was
hard for me to realize that I was to be honoured by
a degree from the oldest and most renowned uni-
versity in America. As I sat upon my veranda,
with this letter in my hand, tears came Into my
eyes. My whole former life — my life as a slave
on the plantation, my work in the coal-mine, the
times when I was without food and clothing, when
I made my bed under a sidewalk, my struggles for
an education, the trying days I had had at Tuske-
gee, days when I did not know where to turn for a
dollar to continue the work there, the ostracism and
sometimes oppression of my race, — all this passed
before me and nearly overcame me.

I had never sought or cared for what the world
calls fame. I have always looked upon fame as some-
thing to be used in accomplishing good. I have
often said to my friends that if I can use whatever
prominence may have come to me as an instrument
with which to do good, I am content to have it. I

LAST WORDS 29>

care for it only as a means to be used for doing
good, just as wealth may be used. The more I
come into contact with wealthy people, the more I
believe that they are growing in the direction of
looking upon their money simply as an instrument
which God has placed in their hand for doing good
with. I never go to the office of Mr. John D.
Rockefeller, who more than once has been generous
to Tuskegee, without being reminded of this. The
close, careful, and minute investigation that he always
makes in order to be sure that every dollar that he
gives will do the most good — an investigation that
is just as searching as if he were investing money
in a business enterprise — convinces me that the
growth in this direction is most encouraging.

At nine o'clock, on the morning of June 24, I
met President Eliot, the Board of Overseers of Har-
vard University, and the other guests, at the desig-
nated place on the university grounds, for the pur-
pose of being escorted to Sanders Theatre, where
the Commencement exercises were to be held and
degrees conferred. Among others invited to be
present for the purpose of receiving a degree at this
time were General Nelson A. Miles, Dr. Bell, the
inventor of the Bell telephone. Bishop Vincent, and
the Rev. Mi not J. Savage. We were placed in line
immediately behind the Presider^t and the Board of

298 UP FROM SLAVERY

Overseers, and directly afterward the Governor of
Massachusetts, escorted by the Lancers, arrived and
took his place in the line of march by the side of
President Eliot. In the line there were also various
other officers and professors, clad in cap and gown.
In this order we marched to Sanders Theatre, where,
after the usual Commencement exercises, came the
conferring of the honorary degrees. This, it seems,
is always considered the most interesting feature at
Harvard. It is not known, until the individuals
appear, upon whom the honorary degrees are to be
conferred, and those receiving these honours are
cheered by the students and others in proportion to
their popularity. During the conferring of the de-
grees excitement and enthusiasm are at the highest
pitch.

When my name was called, I rose, and President
Eliot, in beautiful and strong English, conferred
upon me the degree of Master of Arts. After
these exercises were over, those who had received
honorary degrees were invited to lunch with the
President. After the lunch we were formed in line
again, and were escorted by the Marshal of the day,
who that year happened to be Bishop William Law-
rence, through the grounds, where, at different
points, those who had been honoured were called by
name and received the Harvard yell. This march

LAST WORDS 299

ended at Memorial Hall, where the alumni dinner
was served. To see over a thousand strong men,
representing all that is best in State, Church, busi-
ness, and education, with the glow and enthusiasm
of college loyalty and college pride, — which has, I
think, a peculiar Harvard flavour, — is a sight, that
does not easily fade from memory.

Among the speakers after dinner were President
Eliot, Governor Roger Wolcott, General Miles,
Dr. Minot J. Savage, the Hon. Henry Cabot
Lodge, and myself. When I was called upon,
I said, among other things : —

It would in some measure relieve my embarrassment
if I could, even in a slight degree, feel myself worthy of
the great honour which you do me to-day. Why you
have called me from the Black Belt of the South, from
among my humble people, to share in the honours of this
occasion, is not for me to explain ; and yet it may not be
inappropriate for me to suggest that it seems to me that one
of the most vital questions that touch our American life is
how to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful
touch with the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and
at the same time make one appreciate the vitalizing,
strengthening .influence of the other. How shall we make
the mansions on yon Beacon Street feel and see the need
of the spirits in the lowliest cabin in Alabama cotton-
fields or Louisiana sugar-bottoms ? This problem Harvard
University is solving, not by bringing itself down, but by
bringing the masses up.

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If my life in the past has meant anything in the lifting
up of my people and the bringing about of better relations
between your race and mine, I assure you from this day it
will mean doubly more. In the economy of God there
is but one standard by which an individual can succeed —
there is but one for a race. This country demands that
every race shall measure itself by the American standard.
By it a race must rise or fall, succeed or fail, and in the
last analysis mere sentiment counts for little. During the
next half-century and more, my race must continue pass-
ing through the severe American crucible. We are to be
tested in our patience, our forbearance, our perseverance,
our power to endure wrong, to withstand temptations, to
economize, to acquire and use skill ; in our ability to
compete, to succeed in commerce, to disregard the super-
ficial for the real, the appearance for the substance, to be
great and yet small, learned and yet simple, high and yet
the servant of all.

•

As this was the first time that a New England
university had conferred an honorary degree upon a
Negro, it was the occasion of much newspaper com-
ment throughout the country. A correspondent of
a New York paper said : —

When the name of Booker T. Washington was called,
and he arose to acknowledge and accept, there was such an
outburst of applause as greeted no other name except that
of the popular soldier patriot. General Miles. The applause
was not studied and stiff, sympathetic and condoling ; it
was enthusiasm and admiration. Every part of the audi-

LAST WORDS 301

ence from pit to gallery joined in, and a glow covered
the cheeks of those around me, proving sincere appreciation
of the rising struggle of an ex-slave and the work he has
accomplished for his race.

A Boston paper said, editorially : —

In conferring the honorary degree of Master of Arts
upon the Principal of Tuskegee Institute, Harvard Uni-
versity has honoured itself as well as the object of this
distinction. The work which Professor Booker T. Wash-
ington has accomplished for the education, good citizenship,
and popular enlightenment in his chosen field of labour in
the South entitles him to rank with our national benefactors.
The university which can claim him on its list of sons,
whether in regular course or honoris causa^ may be proud.

It has been mentioned that Mr. Washington is the first
of his race to receive an honorary degree from a New Eng-
land university. This, in itself, is a distinction. But the
degree was not conferred because Mr. Washington is a
coloured man, or because he was born in slavery, but because
he has shown, by his work for the elevation of the people
of the Black Belt of the South, a genius and a broad
humanity which count for greatness in any man, whether
his skin be white or black.

Another Boston paper said : —

It is Harvard which, first among New England colleges,
confers an honorary degree upon a black man. No one
who has followed the history of Tuskegee and its work can
fail to admire the courage, persistence, and splendid com-

302 UP FROM SLAVERY

mon sense of Booker T. Washington. Well may Harvard
honour the ex-slave, the value of whose services, alike to
his race md country, only the future can estimate.

The correspondent of the New York Times
wrote : —

All the speeches were enthusiastically received, but the
coloured man carried off the oratorical honours, and the
applause which broke out when he had finished was vocif-
erous and long-continued.

Soon after I began work at Ttiskegee I formed a
resolution, in the secret of my heart, that I would
try to build up a school that would be of so much
service to the country that the President of the
United States would one day come to see it. This
was, I confess, rather a bold resolution, and for a
number of years I kept it hidden in my owti thoughts,
not daring to share it with any one.

In November, 1897, I made the first move in
this direction, and that was in securing a visit from
a member of President McKinley's Cabinet, the
Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. He
came to deliver an address at the formal opening of
the Slater- Armstrong Agricultural Building, our first
large building to be used for the purpose of giving
training to our students in agriculture and kindred
branches.

LAST WORDS 303

In the fell of 1898 I heard that President Mc-
Kirtky was likely to visit Atlanta, Georgiaj for the
purpose of taking part in the Peace Jubilee exercises
to be held there to commemorate the successful close
of the Spanish- American war. At this time I had
been hard at work, together with our teachers, for
eighteen years, trying to build up a school that we
thought would be of service to the Nation, and I
determined to make a direct effort to secure a visit
from the Pt-esident and his Cabinet. I went to
Washington, and I was not long in the city before
I found my way to the White House. When I
got there I found the waiting rooms full of people,
and my heart began to sink, for I feared there would
not be much chance of my seeing the President that
day, if at all. But, at any rate, I got an opportu-
nity to see Mr. J. Addison Porter, the secretary to
the President, and explained to him my mission.
Mr. Porter kindly sent my card directly to the Presi-
dent, and in a few minutes word came from Mr.
McKinley that he would see me.

How any man can see sd many people of all
kinds, with all kinds of et-rands, and do so much
hard work, and still keep himself calm, patient, and
frfesh for each visitor in the way that President Mc-
Kinley doeis, I cannot understand. When I saw
the President he kindly thanked me for the work

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which we were doing at Tuskegee for the interests
of the country. I then told him, briefly, the object
of my visit. I impressed upon him the fact that a
visit from the Chief Executive of the Nation would
not only encourage our students and teachers, but
would help the entire race. He seemed interested,
but did not make a promise to go to Tuskegee, for
the reason that his plans about going to Atlanta
were not then fully made ; but he asked me to call
the matter to his attention a few weeks later.

By the middle of the following month the Presi-
dent had definitely decided to attend the Peace
Jubilee at Atlanta. I went to Washington again
and saw him, with a view of getting him to extend
his trip to Tuskegee. On this second visit Mr.
Charles W. Hare, a prominent white citizen of
Tuskegee, kindly volunteered to accompany me, to
reenforce my invitation with one from the white
people of Tuskegee and the vicinity.

Just previous to my going to Washington the
second time, the country had been excited, and the
coloured people greatly depressed, because of sev-
eral severe race riots which had occurred at differ-
ent points in the South. As soon as I saw the
President, I perceived that his heart was greatly
burdened by reason of these race disturbances.
Although there were many people waiting to see

LAST WORDS 305

him, he detained me for some time, discussing the
condition and prospects of the race. He remarked
several times that he was determined to show his
interest and faith in the race, not merely in words,
but by acts. When I told him that I thought that
at that time scarcely anything would go farther in
giving hope and encouragement to the race than the
fact that the President of the Nation would be will-
ing to travel one hundred and forty miles out of his
way to spend a day at a Negro institution, he seemed
deeply impressed.

While I was with the President, a white citizen
of Atlanta, a Democrat and an ex-slaveholder, came
into the room, and the President asked his opinion
as to the wisdom of his going to Tuskegee. With-
out hesitation the Atlanta man replied that it was
the proper thing for him to do. This opinion was
reenforced by that friend of the race, Dr. J, L. M.
Curry. The President promised that he would
visit our school on the i6th of December.

When it became known that the President was
going to visit our school, the white citizens of the
town of Tuskegee — a mile distant from the school
— were as much pleased as were our students and
teachers. The white people of the town, including
both men and women, began arranging to decorate
the town, and to form themselves into committees

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for the purpose of cooperating with the officers of
our school in order that the distinguished visitor
might have a fitting reception, I think I never
realized before this how much the white people of
Tuskegee and vicinity thought of our institution.
During the days when we were preparing for the
President's reception, dozens of these people came
to me arid said that, while they did not want to
push themselves into prominence, if there was any-
thing they could do to help, or to relieve me per-
sonally, I had but to intimate it and they would be
only too glad to assist. In fact, the thing that
touched me almost as deeply as the visit of the
President itself was the deep pride which all classes
of citizens in Alabama seemed to take in our Work.
The morning of December i6th brought to the
little city of Tuskegee such a crowd as it had
never seen before. With the President came Mrs.
McKinley and all of the Cabinet officers but one ;
and most of them brought their wives or some
members of their families. Several prominent gen-
erals came, including General Shafter and General
Joseph Wheeler, who were recently returned from
the Spanish-American war. There was also a host
of newspaper correspondents. The Alabama Legis-
lature was in session at Montgomery at this time.
This body passed a resolution to adjourn for the

LAST WORDS 307

purpose of visiting Tuskegee. Just before the ar-
rival of the President's party the Legislature arrived,
headed by the governor and other state officials.

The citizens of Tuskegee had decorated the town
from the station to the school in a generous man-
ner. In order to economize in the matter of time,
we arranged to have the whole school pass in review
before the President. Each student carried a stalk
of sugar-cane with some open bolls of cotton fast-
ened to the end of it. Following the students the
work of all departments of the school passed in
review, displayed on " floats " drawn by horses,
mules, and oxen. On these floats we tried tp ex-
hibit not only the present work of the school, but
to show the contrasts between the old methods of
doing things and the new. As an example, we
showed the old method of dairying in contrast
with the improved methods, the old methods of
tilling the soil in contrast with the new, the old
methods of cooking and housekeeping in contrast
with the new. These floats consun^ed an hour and
a half of time in passing.

In his address in our large, new chapel, which the
students had recently completed, the President said^
among other things : —

To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have
the opportunity of a personal observation of your work is

3o8 UP FROM SLAVERY

indeed most gratifying. The Tuskegee Normal and Indus-
trial Institute is ideal in its conception, and has already a
large and growing reputation in the country, and is not
unknown abroad. I congratulate all who are associated in
this undertaking for the good work which it is doing in the
education of its students to lead lives of honour and useful-
ness, thus exalting the race for which it was established.

Nowhere, I think, could a more delightful location have
been chosen for this unique educational experiment, which
has attracted the attention and won the support even of
conservative philanthropists in all sections of the country.

To speak of Tuskegee without paying special tribute to
Booker T. Washington's genius and perseverance would be
impossible. The inception of this noble enterprise was
his, and he deserves high credit for it. His was the enthu-
siasm and enterprise which made its steady progress possible
and established in the institution its present high stand-
ard of accomplishment. He has won a worthy reputation
as one of the great leaders of his race, widely known and
much respected at home and abroad as an accomplished
educator, a great orator, and a true philanthropist.

The Hon. John D. Long, the Secretary of the

Navy, said in part : —

I cannot make a speech to-day. My heart is too full
— full of hope, admiration, and pride for my countrymen
of both sections and both colours. I am filled with grati-
tude and admiration for your work, and from this time for-
ward I shall have absolute confidence in your progress and
in the solution of the problem in which you are engaged.

LAST WORDS 309

The problem, I say, has been solved. A picture has
been presented to-day which should be put upon canvas
with the pictures of Washington and Lincoln, and trans-
mitted to future time and generations — a picture which
the press of the country should spread broadcast over the
Und, a most dramatic picture, and that picture is this : The
President of the United States standing on this platform ;
on one side the Governor of Alabama, on the other, com-
pleting the trinity, a representative of a race only a few
years ago in bondage, the coloured President of the Tuske-
gee Normal and Industrial Institute.

God bless the President under whose majesty such a
scene as that is presented to the American people. God
bless the state of Alabama, which is showing that it can
deal with this problem for itself. God bless the orator,
philanthropist, and disciple of the Great Master — who, if
he were on earth, would be doing the same work — Booker
T. Washington.

Postmaster General Smith closed the address
which he made with these words : —

We have witnessed many spectacles within the last few
days. We have seen the magnificent grandeur and the
magnificent achievements of one of the great metropolitan
cities of the South. We have seen heroes of the war pass
by in procession. We have seen floral parades. But I
am sure my colleagues will agree with me in saying that
we have witnessed no spectacle more impressive and more
encouraging, more inspiring for our future, than that which
we have witnessed here this morning.

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Some days after the President returned to Wash-
ington I received the letter which follows : —

£j(EcuTivE Mansion^ Washingtqn^ Dec. z$, 1999.

Dear Sir : By this mail I take pleasure in sending you
engrossed copies of the souvenir of the visit of the Presi-
dent to your institution. These sheets bear the auto-
graphs of the President and the members of the Cabinet
who accompanied him on the trip. Let me take this
opportunity of congratulating you most heartily and sin-
cerely upon the great success of the exercises provided for
and entertainment furnished us under your auspices during
our visit to Tuskegee. Every feature of the programme
was perfectly executed and was viewed or participated in
with the heartiest satisfaction by every visitor present.
The unique exhibition which you gave of your pupils en-.-
gaged in their industrial vocations was not only artistic but
thoroughly impressive. The tribute paid by the President
and his Cabinet to your work was none too high, and
forms a most encouraging augury, I think, for the future
prosperity of your institution. I cannot close without
assuring you that the modesty shown by yourself in the
exercises was most favourably commented upon by all the
members of our party.

With best wishes for the continued advance of your
most useful and patriotic undertaking, kind personal regards,
and the compliments of the season, believe me, always,

Wery sincerely yours,

John Addison Porter,

Secretary to the President.

To President Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Ala.

LAST WORDS 311

Twenty years have now passed since I made the
first humble efFort at Tuskegee, in a broken-down
shanty and an old hen-house, without owning a
dollar's worth of property, and with but one teacher
and thirty students. At the present time the in-
stitution owns twenty-three hundred acres of land,
one thousand of which are under cultivation
each year, entirely by student labour. There are
now upon the grounds, counting large and small,
sixty-six buildings ; and all except four of these have
been almost wholly erected by the labour of our
students. While the students are at work upon
the land and in erecting buildings, they are taught,
by competent instructors, the latest methods of
agriculture and the trades connected with building.

There are in constant operation at the school,
in connection with thorough academic and re-
ligious training, thirty industrial departments. All
of these teach industries at which our men and
women can find immediate employment as soon as
they leave the institution. The only difficulty now
is that the demand for our graduates from boti
white and black people in the South is so great that
we cannot supply more than one-half the persons
for whom applications come to us. Neither have
we the buildings nor the money for current ex-
penses to enable us to admit to the school more

312 UP FROM SLAVERY

than one-half the young men and women who
apply to us for admission.

In our industrial teaching we keep three things
in mind : first, that the student shall be so educated
that he shall be enabled to meet conditions as they
exist noWy in the part of the South where he lives —
in z word, to be able to do the thing which the
world wants done ; second, that every student who
graduates from the school shall have enough skill,
coupled with intelligence and moral character, to
enable him to make a living for himself and others ;
third, to send every graduate out feeling and know-
ing that labour is dignified and beautiful — to make
each one love labour instead of trying to escape it.
In addition to the agricultural training which we
give to young men, and the training given to our
girls in all the usual domestic employments, we now
train a number of girls in agriculture each year.
These girls are taught gardening, fruit-growing,
dairying, bee-culture, and poultry-raising.

While the institution is in no sense denomina-
tional, we have a department known as the Phelps
Hall Bible Training School, in which a number of
students are prepared for the ministry and other
forms of Christian work, especially work in the
country districts. What is equally important, each
one of these students works half of each day at some

LAST WORDS 313

industry, in order to get skill and the love of work,
so that when he goes out from the institution he is
prepared to set the people with whom he goes to
labour a proper example in the matter of industry.
( The value of our property is now over |7CK),ooo.
If we add to this our endowment fund, which, at
present is 1 1,000,000, the value of the total
property is now 1 1,700,000. Aside from the
need for more buildings and for money for current
expenses, the endowment fund should be increased
to at least 13,000,000. The annual current expenses
are now about 1150,000. The greater part of this
I collect each year by going from door to door
and from house to house. All of our property
is free from mortgage, and is deeded to an unde-
nominational board of trustees who have the control
of the institution.

From thirty students the number has grown to
fourteen hundred, coming from twenty-seven states
and territories, from Africa, Cuba, Porto Rico,
Jamaica, and other foreign countries. In our de-
partments there are one hundred and ten officers and
instructors ; and if we add the families of our instruc-
tors, we have a constant population upon our
grounds of not far from seventeen hundred people.

I have often been asked how we keep so large a
body of people together, and at the same time keep

314 UP FROM SLAVERY

them out of mischief. There are two answers : that
the men and women who come to us for an educa-

tion are in earnest; and that everybody is kept
busy. The following outline of our daily work
will testify to this: —

5 A.M., rising bellj 5.50 a.m., warning breakfast bell;
6 A.M., breakfast bell; 6.20 a.m., breakfast over; 6.20 to
6.50 a.m., rooms are cleaned; 6.50, work bell; 7.30,
morning study hour; 8.20, morning school bell; 8.25,
inspection of young men's toilet in ranks ; 8.40, devotional
exercises in chapel; 8.55, ^^five minutes with the daily
news ; " g a.m., class work begins ; 1 2, class work closes ;
12.15 p.m., dinner; i p.m., work bell; 1.30 p.m., class
work begins ; 3,30 p.m., class work ends 5 5.30 P.M., bell
to "knock off" work; 6 p.m., supper; 7.10 P.M., evening
prayers; 7.30 p.m., evening study hours; 8.45 p.m., even-
ing study hour closes; 9.20 p.m., warning retiring bell;
9.30 p.m., retiring bell.

We try to keep constantly in mind the fact that
the worth of the school is to be judged by its gradu-
ates. Counting those who have finished the full
course, together with those who have taken enough
training to enable them to do reasonably good work,
we can safely say that at leaat six thousand men
and women from Tuskegee are now at work in
different parts of the South ; men and women who,
by their own example or by direct effort, are show-

LAST WORDS 315

ing the masses of our race how to improve their
material, educational, and moral and religious life.
What is equally important, they are exhibiting a
degree of common sense and self-control which is
causing better relations to exist between the races,
and is causing the Southern white man to learn to
believe in the value of educating the men and
women of my race. Aside from this, there is the
influence that Is constantly being exerted through
the mothers' meeting and the plantation work con-
ducted by Mrs. Washington.

Wherever our graduates go, the changes which
soon begin to appear in the buying of land, improv-
ing homes, saving money, in education, and in high
moral character are remarkable. Whole communi-
ties are fast being revolutionized through the instru-
mentality of these men and women.

Ten years ago I organized at Tuskegee the first
Negro Conference. This is an annual gathering
which now brings to the school eight or nine hun-
dred representative men and women of the race, who
come to spend a day in finding out what the actual
industrial, mental, and moral conditions of the people
are, and in forming plans for improvement. Out
from this central Negro Conference at Tuskegee
have grown numerous state and local conferences
which are doing the same kind of work. As a

3i6 UP FROM SLAVERY

result of the influence of these gatherings, one dele*
gate reported at the last annual meeting that ten
families in his community had bought and paid for
homes. On the day following the annual Negro
Conference, there is held the "Workers' Con-
ference." This is composed of officers and teachers
who are engaged in educational work in the larger
institutions in the South. The Negro Conference
furnishes a rare opportunity for these workers to
study the real condition of the rank and file of the
people.

In the summer of 1900, with the assistance of
such prominent coloured men as Mr. T. Thomas
Fortune, who| has always upheld my hands in every
effort, I organized the National Negro Business
League, which held its first meeting in Boston, and
brought together for the first time a large number
of the coloured men who are engaged in various
lines of trade or business in different parts of the
United states. Thirty states were represented at
our first meeting. Out of this national meeting
grew state and local business leagues.

In addition to looking after the executive side of
the work at Tuskegee, and raising the greater part
of the money for the support of the school, I cannot
seem to escape the duty of answering at least a part
of the calls which come to me unsought to address

LAST WORDS 317

Southern white audiences and audiences of my own
race, as well as frequent gatherings in the North,
As to how much of my time is spent in th?s way, the
following clipping from a Buffalo (N.Y.) paper will
tell. This has reference to an occasion when I
spoke before the National Educational Association
in that city.

Booker T. Washington, the foremost educator among
the coloured people of the world, was a very busy man from
the time he arrived in the city the other night from the
West and registered at the Iroquois. He had hardly re-
moved the stains of travel when it was time to partake of
supper. Then he held a public levee in the parlours of the
Iroquois until eight o'clock. During that time he was
greeted by over two hundred eminent teachers and edu-
cators from all parts of the United States. Shortly after
eight o'clock he was driven in a carriage to Music Hall,
and in one hour and a half he made two ringing addresses,
to as many as five thousand people, on Negro education.
Then Mr. Washington was taken in charge by a delega-
tion of coloured citizens, headed by the Rev. Mr. Watkins,
and hustled off to a small informal reception, arranged in
honour of the visitor by the people of his race.

Nor can I, in addition to making these addresses,
escape the duty of calling the attention of the South
and of the country in general, through the medium
of the press, to matters that pertain to the interests

31 8 UP FROM SLAVERY

of both races. This, for example, I have done in
regard to the evil habit of lynching. When the
Louisiana State Constitutional Convention Was in
session, I wrote an open letter to that body pleading
for justice for the race. In all such efforts I have
received warm and hearty support from the South-
ern newspapers, as well as from those in all other
parts of the country.

Despite superficial and temporary signs which
might lead one to entertain a contrary opinion,
there was never a time when I felt more hopeful
for the race than I do at the present. The great
human law that in the end recognizes and rewards
merit is everlasting and universal. The outside
world does not know, neither can it appreciate, the
struggle that is constantly going on in the hearts of
both the Southern white people and their former
slaves to free themselves from racial prejudice ; and
while both races are thus struggling they should
have the sympathy, the support, and the forbear-
ance of the rest of the world.

As I write the closing words of this autobiog-
raphy I find myself — not by design — in the city
of Richmond, Virginia : the city which only a few
decades ago was the capital of the Southern Confed-
eracy, and where, about twenty-five years ago, be-

LAST WORDS 319

cause of my poverty I slept night after night under
a sidewalk.

This time I am in Richmond as the guest of the
coloured people of the city ; and came at their request
to deliver an address last night to both races in the
Academy of Music, the largest and finest audience
room in the city. This was the first time that the
coloured people had ever been permitted to use this
hall. The day before I came, the City Council
passed a vote to attend the meeting in a body to
hear me speak. The state Legislature, including
the House of Delegates and the Senate, also
passed a unanimous vote to attend in a body. In
the presence of hundreds of coloured people, many
distinguished white citizens, the City Council, the
state Legislature, and state officials, I delivered my
message, which was one of hope and cheer; and
from the bottom of my heart I thanked both races
for this welcome back to the state that gave me
birth.

Index

Abbott, Dr. Lyman, 230.

Aberdeen, Lady, 285.

Abolitionists, English, 284.

Academy of Music, Richmond, ad-
dress in, 319.

Adams, Lewis, 120, 121.

Africa, Negroes missionaries to, 16;
Negro cannot improve condition
by emigrating to, 285; students
from, at Tuskegee Institute, 313.

Age-Hernldy the Birmingham, corre-
spondence with editor of, 256.

Agricultural Building at Tuskegee,
the Slater-Armstrong, 302.

Agriculture in Holland, 278.

Alabama Hall, 177-178.

"Aliens," effect of, on Southerners,

234-235.
Amanda, Washington's sister, 5, 71.

Ancestors, of Washington, 2; disad-
vantage of having, 35, 39-40; ad-
vantage of having, 36-37.

Andrew, Governor, 251.

Anecdotes, object of repeating, in
public speaking, 243.

Anthony, Susan B., 285.

Antwerp, Belgium, Washington in,
277.

Armstrong, General Samuel C, 54-
57, 94, 97, 106; benefit to Wash-
ington of contact with, 73; helps
Tuskegee Institute financially,
146; visits Tuskegee, 55, 163,
293-294; death of, 295.

Atkinson, Governor G. W., 290, 291.

Atlanta, Ga., Washington addresses
Christian Workers at, 204-205;
address at opening of Interna-
tional Exposition at, 206, 210-
225.

Atlanta Exposition, the, 206; Hamp-
ton and Tuskegee represented at,
209; Washington's address, 210-
225 ; President Cleveland at, 227-
228; Washington appointed judge
of, 233.

Attucks, Crispus, 254.

Audience, the best, 245; Washing-
ton's largest, 253-254; the Eng-
lish, 287.

Auditorium, Chicago, Jubilee ad-
dresses in the, 253-255.

Authority, respect for, among Ne-
groes, 168-169.

Baldwin, William H., 216.

Ballot, justice to Negro concerning

his, 235-237. See Franchise.
"Banking and discount" favourite

study among Negroes, 122.
Barrows, Dr. John H., 254.
Baths, at Hampton, 58; Negroes in

Maiden taught use of, 75; at Tus-
kegee, 175.
Battle at Maiden between Negroes

and whites, 78.
Bed-clothes, lack of, at Tuskegee,

167-168.
Bedford, Rev. Robert C, 157-158;

161.

321

322

INDEX

Begging, science of, 1 80-18 1 ; Wash-
ington avoids, 182.

Belgium, trip through, 278.

Bell, Alexander Graham, 297.

Benefits of slavery, 16-17.

Bible, use and value of the, 67.

Bible Training School at TuskCgee,
260, 312.

Bicknell, Hon, Thomas W., 199.

•* Big house," the, 9.

Biography, Washington's fondness
for, 263.

Birmingham, England, Washington
visits, 284.

Black Belt of the South, 299, 301 ;
defined, 108.

Blind, Royal College for the, Com-
mencement exercises of the, 285.

" Blue-back " spelling-book, the, 27,

31-

Boarding department begun at Tus-

kegee, 159-161; growth of, 177.

Boggs, £. L., 290.

Book, Washington's first, 27.

Boston, money-raising experiences
in, 184-185; dedication of Shaw
Memorial in, 249-253; meeting
in HoUis Street Theatre in, 270;
first meeting of National Negro
Business League in, 316.

Boyhood days, Washington's, 23-
42.

Brickmaking at Tuskegee, 1 50-1 53.

Bright, John, 284.

Bristol, England, Washington speaks
in, 284-285.

Bruce, Senator B. K., 86, 89.

Bruce, Mrs. B. K., 259.

Brussels, Washmgton visits, 278.

Bryce, James, 283.

Buf&lo, N.Y., address before Na-
tional Educational Association in,

317-

Bullock, Governor, of Georgia, 86,

217, 241.

Business League, National Negro^

316.
Business men make best audiences,

245-

"Call to preach," prevalence of,

among coloured people, 82; one

old Negro's, 128.
Campbell, George W., 120, 146.
Canal-boat trip through Holland,

278.
Cards, Washington not fond o^

266.
Carnegie, Andrew, 190-192,
Carney, Sergeant William H., 252,

253.
Carpetbaggers, 86.

"Cat-hole," the, 3.

"Cavalier among Roundheads, a,"

240.
Chapel, donation for, at Tuskegee,

190 ; President McKinley speaks

in, 307-308.
Charleston, W. Va., capital moved

to, 92 ; reception to Washington

in, 289-291.
Chattanooga, address at, 248.
Cheating white man, the, 166, 237.
Chicago, University of, addresses at,

253-255-
Choate, Hon. Joseph H., 283, 284.

Christian Endeavour societies, help
of, in Tuskegee work, 193 ; ad-
dresses before, 247.

Christian Endeavour Society at Tus-
kegee, 198.

Christian Union, letter from Wash-
ington in the^ 230.

Christian Workers, Washington ad-
dresses meeting of, at Atlanta,
204-205.

Christmas, first, at Tuskegee, 133.

Churches burned by Ku Klux Klan,

78.

Civil War, the, 8, lo.

INDEX

323

Clark, Mr. and Mrs., of Street, Eng-
land, 284.
Cleanliness the first law at Tuske-

gee, 174-175-

Clemens, Samuel L., 284.

Cleveland, Grover, letter to Wash-
ington from, 227 ; at the Atlanta
Exposition, 227-228 ; Washing-
ton's opinion of, 228.

Clock, young Washington and the,

32.
Qocks in Negro cabins, 113.
Clothing, barrels of, from the North,

60.
Coal-mining in West Virginia, 38-39.
Cobden, Richard, Washington a guest

of the daughter of, 284.
College men third best audiences to

address, 247.
Colour prejudice, 228-229, 289 ; at

hotels, 47, 157.
Coloured Women's Clubs, National

Federation of, 268.
Commencement, at Hampton, 94 ;

of Royal College for the Blind,

London, 285 ; at Harvard, 295-

302.
"Commercial and civil relations,"

Washington pleads for blotting

out of race prejudice in, 256.
Conference, first Negro, 315 ;

Workers', at Tuskegee, 316.
Connecticut, Washington first visits,

74.
Corn, parched, used for coffee, 10.

Comer-stone of first building at

Tuskegee laid, 143-144.
Cotton formerly chief product at

Tuskegee, 113.
Cotton States Exposition. See

Atlanta Exposition.
Couch, George S., 290.
Courtesy of white Southerners

toward Washington, 1 69-1 71.
Courtney, Dr. Samuel £., 96.

Cranks, experiences with, 256-258,

264.
"Credit is capital," 146.
Creelman, James, 238.
Criticism of South, place for, is the

South, 201.
Crystal Palace, London, Washington

speaks in the, 285,
Cuba, students from, at Tuskegee^

313.
Curry, Hon. J. L. M., 194-195, 247,

305-

Davidson, Miss Olivia A., 124-126,
131, 140, 141, 212 ; marriage to
Washington, 198 ; death, 198-
199.

Dawson, William M. O., 290.

Debating societies at Hampton, 68.

Debating society at Maiden, 76.

Degree, Washington's Harvard, 250, *
295-302.

Devotional exercises at Tuskegee,
270.

Dickinson, John Q., 290.

Dining room, first, at Tuskegee,
1 59- 1 61 ; present, 162.

Donald, Rev. E. Winchester, 189-
190.

Donations, first, to Tuskegee Insti-
tute, 1 31-132, 138 ; for new build-
ing at Tuskegee, 140 ; from the
North, 141-143; many that are
never made public, 182-183 ; from
gentleman near Stamford, 186-
187; any philanthropic work must
depend mainly on small, 192-193.

Douglass, Frederick, 99-100, 284,
288.

Drunkenness at Christmas time,

133-134.
Du Bois, Dr. W. E. B., 270.

Dumb animals, Negroes' kindness

to, 282.

Dunbar, Paul Lawrence, 270*

324

INDEX

Education, Washington's theory of,

for Negro, 203.
Educational Department of Atlanta

Exposition, Washington a judge

of, 233.
Educational test suggested for fran-
chise, 84, 237.
£1 Caney, black regiments at, 255.
Eliot, President Charles W., 296,

297, 298, 299.
Emancipation Proclamation, 5, 15,

21.
England, Washington in, 2S2-2S8.
" Entitles," Negroes*, 24, 1 23,
Essex Hall, London, Washington's

address in, 283.
Europe, Mr. and Mrs. Washington's

visit to, 262, 271-288.
Examination, a " sweeping," 52, 163,

281.
Executive council at Tuskegee, 259.

Fame a weapon for doing good, 296.
Federation of Southern Coloured

Women's Qubs, 268.
Fiction, Washington's opinion of,

263.
Fisk University, Miss Margaret J.

Murray a graduate of, 267,
Five-minute speech, an important,

at Atlanta, 204-205.
Flax, clothes made from, 1 1.
Forbes, John M., 251.
" Foreday " visits, 133.
"Foreigners," feeling in South

toward, 234-235.
Fort Pillow, coloured soldiers at,

255-
Fortress Monroe, Washington works

in restaurant at, 64-65.
Fortune, T. Thomas, 316.
Fort Wagner, coloured soldiers at,

251, 252, 255.
Foster, Hon. M. F., 194.
Framingham, Mass., Miss Davidson

student at Normal School at, 125;
Portia Washington at, 274.
Franchise, property or educational
test suggested for, 84; same law
for both Negroes and whites rec-
ommended, 86-87; injury to
whites of depriving Negro of, 165-
166 ; belief that justice will be
done Negro in matter of, 234-

235-
Franklin County, Va., Washington

born in, I.
Freedom, granted to Negroes, 19-

22 ; interest in, in England, 284.
Friendship, an Englishman's, 287-

288.
Frieslandy voyage on the, 275.
Frissell, Dr. Hollis B., 106, 295.
"Frolic," the Christmas, 135.
Fuller, Chief Justice, 279.
Future of Negro, 202.

Gaines, Bishop, 207.

Games, Washington's lack of interest

in, 266.
Garrison, Francis J., 271, 274, 283.
Garrison, William Lloyd, 7, 284.
Gilman, Dr. D. C, 232-233.
Ginger-cakes, incident of the, 10.
Gladstone, Washington compared

to, 240.
Graduates of Tuskegee send annual

contributions, 193.
Grady, Henry, 238, 240.
Grant, Bishop, 207.
" Grape-vine " telegraph, 8, 19.
Great men, education of contact

with, 55.
Greek and Latin learning, craze

among Negroes for, 80, 8i.
Guitar lesson, story of the, 94.

Hale's Ford, Washington's birth-
place, I.
Hampton Institute, Washington

INDEX

3*5

first hears of, 42 ; resolves to at-
tend, 43 ; journey to, 46-50 ; a
student at, 53-74 ; John and
James Washington attend, 76-77;
character-building result of train-
ing at, 87-88 ; Washington re-
visits, 94-95 ; Washington returns
as a teacher, 97 ; represented at
Atlanta Exposition, 209 ; under
Dr. Frissell, 295.

Hare, Charles W,, 304,

Harlan, Justice, 279.

Harper, President William R., 253.

Harrison, Benjamin, 279.

Harvard, Washington's honorary
degree from, 250, 295-302.

Hat, Washington's first, 33.

Hemenway, Mrs. Mary, 125.

Herford, Dr. Brooke, 283.

Higginson, Henry L., 272.

Hirsch, Rabbi Emil G., 254.

Hodnett, Father Thomas P., 254.

Holland, Washington's trip through,
277-278.

HoUis Street Theatre, Boston, meet-
ing in, 270.

Holstein cattle in Holland, 278.

** Honour roll " at Hampton, 73.

Hotel, Washington refused admit-
tance to, 47 ; no trouble at, in
Northampton, Mass., 157.

" House father," Washington as, to
Indians at Hampton, 97-98.

House of Commons, visit to the,
285.

Howell, Albert, Jr., 217.

Howell, Clark, 225-226, 239.

Huntington, Collis P., 188-189.

Indians at Hampton, 97-99.

Industrial departments at Tuskegee
Institute, 311.

Industrial education, value of, 126-
127, 154-156; growth of belief in
worth of, 166; importance of, im-

pressed on Negroes in addresses,
206; advantages of, dwelt on in
Atlanta Exposition address, 218-
220; at present time at Tuskegee,
312. See Labour.

International Congress of Women in
London, 285.

International Exposition. 5>^ Atlanta
Exposition.

Intoxication, prevalence of, at Christ-
mas time, 133-134.

Ireland, Archbishop, 279.

Iroquois Hotel, Buffalo, public levee
in, 317.

Jackson, Andrew, 254.

Jamaica, students from, at Tuskegee,

313.
Janitor, Washington installed as, at

Hampton, 53.
Jesup, Morris K., 194-195, 247.
John F. Slater Fund, the, 194, 195,

247.
Jubilee exercises in Atlanta, 303,

304.
Jubilee week in Chicago, 253-256.

Kilns, difficulty in making, 151-152.
Ku Klux Klan, the, 77-79.

Labour, in ante-bellum days badge
of degradation in South, 17; dig-
nity of, 72-74, 148; coloured min-
ister claims that God has cursed
&il> 135; new students at Tuske-
gee object to manual, 1 55- 156;
means of avoiding troubles sug*
gested, 172. See Industrial Edu-
cation.

La FoUette, L. M., 290.

Laidley, George S., 291.

Lawrence, Bishop William, 270, 298

Lee, Colonel Henry, 251.

Letter, from Miss Mary F. Mackie,
72; from Alabama men to Gen-

326

INDEX

eral Armstrong, 106-107; to An-
drew Carnegie, 191-192; from
President Cleveland, 227; from
Dr. Dp CGilman, 233; from Baker
T. Washington, 269; from citizens
of Charleston, W. Va,, 289, 290;
from President £tiot, 295-296;
from John Addison Porter, 310.

Library, Washington's Brst, 45 ; first,
at Tuskegee, 190; frmds for new,
supplied by Andrew Carnegie, 191-
192; on the 5/. Louis, 288.

Lieutenant-governori a coloured,

85.

Lincoln, Abraham, Washington's
mother prays for, 7; mentioned,
S» 309; Washington's patron saint
in literature, 263.

Live stock, fine breeds at Hampton,
66; first, at Tuskegee, 139; Wash-
ington's individual, 265; in Hol-
land, 27$.

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 299.

Logan, Warren, 1 58-1 59, 259.

London, Washington visits, 282-
288.

Long, John D., 308-309.

Lord, Miss Nathalie, 67.

Louisiana State Constitutional Con-
vention, letter on lynching to the,
318.

Lovejoy, Elijah P., 7.

Lumber supplied on strength of
Washington's word, 140.

Luxembourg Palace, American Ne-
gro's painting in, 280.

Lynching, Washington writes open
letter on, 318.

MacCorkle, ex-Governor W. A., 390,

291.
Mackie, Miss Mary F., 53, 54, 72,

163.
McKinley, President, 181 ; at the

Auditorium meeting, Chicago, 254;

Washington's interviews with, 303-
305; visits Tuskegee, 306-310.

Macon County, Ala., Tuskegee
county-seat of, 121.

McWhorter, L. £.,291.

Madison, Wis., Washington begins
public-speaking career at, 199,
242.

Mail-carrier as disseminator of news
among slaves, 9.

Maiden, W. Va., Washington's rela-
tives move to, 24-25 ; Washington
revisits, 68; teaches school at, 75;
Ku Klux Klan at, 77-78.

Mark Twain, 284.

" Mars' Billy," death of, 12-13.

Marshall, Edward, 275, 278.

Marshall, General J. B. F.^ 66, 129,
163.

Master of Arts, Washington made a,
298.

'< Masters " in EngUnd, 386.

Mattress-making at Tuskegee, 173.

Meals, in slave quarters, 9; among
Negroes in early days at Tuske-
gee, 112-1 15; trials in connection
with, in boarding department,
160-161; schedule of, at present,
at Tuskegee, 314.

Memorial Hall, Harvard, Washing-
ton's speech in, 299-301.

Memphis, yellow-fever epidemic at,
124.

Middle passage, the, 2.

Miles, General Nelson A., 297, 299,
300.

Ministers, over-supply among Ne-
groes, 82-83; improvement in
character of Negro, 232.

Missionaries, Negroes as, 16,

Missionary organization, officer of a,
discourages Washington's effortSi
156-157,

" Mister," calling a Negro, 247,

" Mistresses " in Englan4» 386.

INDEX

327

Molasses, black, substitute for sugar,
10; frofli the "big house," 245-

24&

Montgomery, Ala., Rev. Robert C.

Bedford pastor in, 157.
Morgan, S. Griffitts, 59.
Morocco, anecdote of the citizen of,

103.
Moses, Washington termed a Negro,

238.
Mothers' meeting in Tuskegee, 267,

315-
Murray, Miss Margaret J., 267-268.

Music Hall, Boston, address in, 250-

253.
Music Hall, Buffalo, addresses in,

317.

Name, Washington chooses his own,

34.
!Names, emancipated Negroes

change, 23-24; of Tuskegee stu-
dents, 123.

^National Educational Association,
speech at meeting of, in Madison,
Wis., 199, 242; address before, in
Buffalo, 317.

"National Federation of Coloured
Women's Clubs, 268.

National Negro Business League,
316.

Hegro Building at Atlanta Exposi-
tion, 208-209; President Cleve-
land visits, 227-228.

Negro Conference, first, 315.

Nelson, Bishop, of Georgia, 217.

New Orleans, reception to Washing-
ton in, 292.

Newspapers, quoted, 226, 238-241,
250-256, 300-302, 317; Washing-
ton's delight in, 263.

l^ew York, a rebuff in, 156-157; Mr.
and MrSb Washington sail from,
275.

Night-gown, lessons ia use of, 176.

Night-school, started in Maiden, 30;
Washington attends* in Maiden^
37; Washington opens, in Maldei^
75 ; established at Hampton, i04-«
105; at Tuskegee, 196-197.

Nobility, respect for the, in England,
287.

North, the, Miss Davidson solicits
funds in, 141 ; Washington and
Miss Davidson again visit, 156-
157; General Armstrong takes
Washington to, with quartette,
178-180; later addresses in, 206.
See Boston.

Northampton, Mass., Washington at,

157.
Novels, Washington forces himself

to read, 263.

Odell, Hon. Benjamin B., Jr., 289.

Opera House, Charleston, W. Va.,
reception to Washington in the,
291.

Organ, Negro family own a sixty-
dollar, 113.

Page, Thomas Nelson, 233.
Painting, American Negro's, in

Luxembourg Palace, 280.
Paris, Washington's visit to, 278-

282.
Parliament, Washington visits, 285.
" PatroUers," the, 77-78.
Payne, Charles K., 291.
Peabody Fund, the, 194, 195.
I Peace Conference, the, 278.
Penn, I. Garland, 209.
Phelps HaU Bible Training School,

260, 312.
Philanthropy, English, 287.
Pig, Washington's favourite animal,

265.
Pinchback, Governor, 86.
" Pine-knot torchlight reception/' a,

294.

3^8

INDEX

Plantation work, Mrs. Washington's

course in, 267, 315.
•* Plucky Class," the, 105.
Political life, allurements of, 85.
Politics in early days at Tuskegee,

IIO-IIX.

Poor whites, 26.

Porter, A. H., 142.

Porter, General Horace, 279, 280.

Porter Hall, 142 ; first service in

chapel of, 157.
Porter, John Addison, 303, 310.
Port Hudson, Negro soldiers at, 255.
Porto Rico, students from, at Tuske-

gee, 313.
Pbst-graduate address at Hampton,

94.
Potato-hole, the, 4.

Prichard, Mr. L., 290.

Property test suggested for franchise,
84»237.

Providence, R.I., a lucky morning
in, 189.

Public speaking, emptiness of mere
abstract, 67 ; ^Washington's first
practice in, 92 ; in conjunction
with General Armstrong in the
North, 180 ; *' An idea for every
word," 180; career begins at
Madison, Wis., 199; secret of
success in, 238-256.

Quartette, Washington and the
Hampton, in the North, 178-180.

Queen, the, Washington takes tea
with, 285.

Qnincy, Hon. Josiah, 251.

Race feeling in America, 289.
Race riots in the South, 304.
Reading, Washington's tastes in,

263.
Reading-room, established at Mai*

den, 76 ; first, at Tnskegee, 190.
Reconstruction period, 8o-*9i.

Reid, Ed., 29 1.

Reliability of slaves, 1 3, 14, 15, 19.

Richmond, Va., Washington's first
experiences in, 48-50; meets Dr.
Curry in, 194-195; guest of the
coloured people of, 318-319.

Rich people, necessity for, in the
world, 182; business methods es-
sential in dealing with, 192.

Rockefeller, John D., 297.

Rotterdam, Washington visits, 278.

Royal College for the Blind, Com-
mencement exercises of the, 285.

Ruffher, General Lewis, 43, 78.

Rufiher, Mrs. Viola, 43-45, 71.

St. Gaudens, Augustus, 251.

St. Louis, gift of a library by citizens
of, 288.

St. Louis, voyage in the, 288.

Salt-mining in West Virginia, 25-26.

Sanders Theatre, Commencement
exercises in, 297-298.

Santiago, black regiments at, 255.

Savage, Rev. Minot J., 297, 299.

School, Washington as a boy escorts
white children to, 6-7; first, for
Negroes, 29; night, started, 30;
Washington first attends, 31; at
Hampton, see |Iampton; Wash-
ington teaches, at Maiden, 75;
opened at Tuskegee, 106-110^ 119.
See Night-school.

Schoolhouses burned, 78.

Scott, Emmett J., 259, 274.

Servants in England, 286.

Sewell, Senator, 275, 277.

Sewing-machines at Tuskegee, 113.

Shafter, General, 306.

Shaw Memorial, address at dedica-
tion of, 249-253.

Shaw, Robert Gould, 249-25a

Sheets, Washington's first experience
with, 60-61 ; lessons in use of» at
Tnskegee Institute, 175-176.

INDEX

3^9

Shirt, flax, ii, 12.

Shoes, Washington's first pair of, 11.

Sidewalk, Washington sleeps under
a, in Richmond, 49.

Slater- Armstrong Agricultural Build-
ing, 302.

Slavery, benefits of, 16-17.

Slaves, quarters of, 2-5; attitude of,
during Civil War, 12-14; freed,
19-22.

Slave ship, 2.

Smith, Miss Fannie N., 146-147.

Smith, Postmaster-General, 309.

Smith, W. Herman, 289.

Snufi-dipping, 115.

** Social recognition *' never discussed
by Washington, 256.

^ Soul " necessary to success in pub-
lic speaking, 244.

Spanish-American War, Negroes in,

255-
Stafford House, London, a reception

at, 287-288.
Stage-coach travel, 46, 47.
Stamford, Conn., generous donor

firom, 186-187.
Stanley, Sir Henry M., 285.
Stanton, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady, 279.
Stanton, Theodore, 278.
Story, effect of telling, in public

speaking, 243; the humorous, in

England, 287.
Strike of coal-miners, 68-69.
Strikes, means of avoiding, 172.
Sturge, Joseph, 284.
Suffrage. See Franchise.
Sutherland, Duke and Duchess of,

287-288.
* Sweeping '' examination, a, 52, 163,

281.

Taliaferro, Washington's name origi-
nally, 35-
Tanner, Henry 0., 280-281.
••Teacher's day," 29.

Ten-dollar bill, incident of finding
a, 65.

Tents used as dormitories, 57.

Texas, travelling in, 169.

Thanksgiving service, first, at Tub*
kegee, 157-158.

"The Force That Wins," 94.

The Hague, visit to, 278.

Thompson, MrsL Joseph, 217, 239.

Thompson, Hon. Waddy, 144.

•• Three cheers to Booker T. Wash-
ington ! " in Boston, 252.

Times, New York, quoted, 302.

Times-Herald, Chicago, quoted,
254-255.

Tooth-brush, gospel of the, 75, I74-*

175-
Transcript, Boston, quoted, 226,

250-252.

Trotter, J. R., 290.

Trust, slaves true to a, 13, 14, 15,

Tuition, cost of, at Hampton, 59 ;
in night-school at Hampton, 104;
at Tuskegee, 167; in night-school
at Tuskegee, 196-197.

Tuskegee, Washington first goes to,
107; acquisition of present site of
school, 128-130; General Arm-
strong at, 55, 163, 293-294; rep-
resented at the Atlanta Eiqposition,
209; executive force of the Insti-
tute, 258-259; President McKin-
ley and Cabinet at, 306-310.

Umbrella, Dr. Donald and the, 190.
University Qub of Paris, Washington

a guest at the, 279.
University of Chicago addresses,

Washington's, 253-255.
Unwin, Mr. and Mrs. T. Fisher, 284.

Vacation, at Hampton, 63, 68; the
first in nineteen years, 262, 27^
See Europe.

330

INDEX

Vessel, Washington helps unload, in

Richmond, 49.
Victoria, Queen, 285.
Vincent, Bishop John H., 297.
Virtue of Negro women, 249.

Wagon-making at Tuskegee, 154.

Washington, D.Cj author a student
in, 87-91 ; yisits, in interests of
Atlanta Exposition, 207-208 ;
talks with President McKinlej in,

303-305.
Washington, Baker Taliaferro, 199,

264, 268-269.
Washington, Booker T., hthet of,

2-3 ; mother of, 2-^ 21, 27, 28,

3^ 33» 45» 70; sister of, 5, 71;

stepfather of, 24, 26, 30.
Washington, Mrs. Booker T. See

Smith, Miss Fannie N., Davidson,

Miss Olivia A., and Murray, Miss

Margaret J.
Washington, Ernest Davidson, 199,

264, 269.
Washington, George, 101-102, 309.
Washington, James B., 37, 77.
Washington, John, 5, 12, 59, 68, 70,

7h 76.
Washington, Portia M., 147, 264,

268.

Watch, Washington pawns his, 152
Waterloo, a visit to battleSeld o(

278.
Watkins, Rev. Mr., of Buffalo, 317.
Westminster, Duke of, 285.
West Virginia, Washington can-
vasses in interests of Charleston

for capital, 93.
Wheeler, General Joseph, 306.
Wheeling, W. Va., capital moved

from, 93.
Whittier, James G., 284.
Wilson, ex-Governor E. W., 290.
Wilson, Hon. James, 302.
Windsor Castle, visit to, 285.
Wolcott, Roger, 250-252, 298, 299.
Woman's club at Tuskegee Institute,

268.
Women, virtue of Negro, 249 ; In«

temational Congress of, 285.
Women's Liberal Qub of Bristol^

England, 285.
Work, outline of daily, at Tuskegee,

3H-
Workers* Conference, 316.

fVoriii, New York, quoted, 238-241.

Worrying, necessity of avmding, i8i.

Young Men's Christian Association
at Tu^egee, 198.

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